Boria Majumdar in Sydney
Gautam Gambhir mentioned at the press conference that India had their moments and not having Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t an excuse.
Yes, it shouldn’t be an excuse. But the truth is that the Indian bowling without Bumrah was listless. On a pitch where a 30-over-old ball did the trick for Australia and the ball moved and jumped all morning, India sprayed it all over and couldn’t make use of the conditions.
Make no mistake, this wicket had a lot in it. Also, the same Indian bowling attack had picked the last five Australian wickets for 80 runs yesterday. Today, Australia were reduced to 65/3 at one point. You would expect Prasidh Krishna, who had picked all three wickets, to get on a roll and use the relatively new ball to best effect. It was his platform to be a hero. Instead, what we got from him was a very ordinary spell after lunch.
Half-volleys, balls down the leg side, wide outside off stump; Prasidh could never bowl six balls with any kind of consistency. The result was that he kept leaking runs and handed the match to Australia.
The same can be said of Mohammed Siraj. He had bowled very well in Australia’s second innings in Melbourne and was outstanding yesterday. Today, in the absence of Bumrah, he was to lead the charge. All we got was two shocking overs which allowed the hosts to get off to a flying start. And at no point did Siraj look half as threatening as yesterday. In sum, it has been a very ordinary series for him. While he does run in hard and puts in a lot of efforts, the truth is that the results aren’t there to show for.
For the Latest Sports News: Click Here
All series the Indian bowling unit has lacked consistency. While Australia had Pat Cummins, Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc to back each other, India had Bumrah and no one. Siraj was there only sporadically and Bumrah suffered in the absence of any serious support. Australia’s fourth bowler was Boland – he replaced Josh Hazlewood. India’s fourth bowler was Nitish Kumar Reddy. Just compare the impact and the answer is clear.
Also, India played Washington Sundar as an all-rounder. He was not given the ball for even an over in this game. He batted at No. 8 and it begs the question; why was he played? What was his role? If he was played as a batter, why not Dhruv Jurel? If he was played as an all-rounder, why not give him an over on a track that had cracks?
Baffling team selections, lack of support for Bumrah, serious lack of application from senior batters like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, extremely poor game awareness from someone like Shubman Gill – India will look back at the tour as one of lost opportunities. In Melbourne, Australia were 94/6 in the second innings. If India closed them out for 140, they would be chasing 250. Australia ended up getting 240.
In Sydney, the bowlers closed Australia for 181 in their first innings. India failed to capitalise on it. It is because at no point did India play as a collective. Individual brilliance can win you a game but can never win you a series.
Justly, Bumrah was adjudged as the Player of the Series. And equally justly, Australia were the winners 3-1. It tells you how average or below-average the rest of the Indian team was. After the high of 2021, this has been a very poor effort.
Also Read: Future of senior Indian players hang in balance as Australia win BGT comprehensively
The post Poor cricket all around – wheels come off for India appeared first on Sports News Portal | Latest Sports Articles | Revsports.
