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India vs Australia, 2nd Test at Brisbane: India’s tail ought to take leaf out of Australian tail’s book

India's last four batsmen scored a mere 49 runs whereas their Australian counterparts amassed 195.

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Mitchell Johnson (above) smashed 88 of 93 balls © Getty Images
Mitchell Johnson (above) smashed 88 of 93 balls © Getty Images

India were bowled out for 408 after being 328 for six in their first innings. In contrast, Australia went from 247 for six to 505. Shiamak Unwalla feels that there is much India’s tail-enders can learn from their Australian counterparts.

India‘s last four batsmen scored a mere 49 runs in 76 balls between them. Australia‘s last four batsmen amassed 195 runs in 225 balls. The difference is astounding, and is substantially responsible for the current situation of the match. At the end of Day One, India were firmly in command with a score of 500 well within sight. On the other hand, Australia were gasping for breath after the first hour of Day Three before ending the day as firm favourites.

One of the most aggravating aspects of India’s lower order is that barring Ravichandran Ashwin — who often looks more secure in the middle than Rohit Sharma — none of the “batsmen” given much hope of either sticking it out or scoring quickly. As a result once the bowlers get past Ashwin, the remaining wickets tend to fall in quick succession. This was true even in the first Test at the Adelaide Oval, although Mohammed Shami did manage to wield his long handle around in an entertaining cameo.

A quick look at the statistics for the last 5 years (December 2009 onwards) shows that South Africa and Australia have had some of the most successful tail-enders (batsmen Nos. 8-11) in this period. Meanwhile, India have not done quite as well:

Team

Players

M

I

NO

Runs

HS

Ave

100s

50s

South Africa

23

43

199

52

2928

100*

19.91

1

10

Australia

29

55

320

86

4394

99

18.77

0

18

Bangladesh

21

27

188

47

2550

115

18.08

3

7

New Zealand

23

41

260

69

3444

137*

18.03

3

7

India

28

52

311

73

4167

144

17.5

6

13

England

22

60

316

76

4122

169

17.17

3

10

West Indies

21

39

228

44

2781

106

15.11

1

9

Sri Lanka

20

41

224

53

2434

103*

14.23

1

6

Pakistan

25

44

247

64

2202

65*

12.03

0

6

Zimbabwe

19

14

106

20

881

43

10.24

0

0

One of the strangest statistics is the number of hundreds scored by Indians batting in the tail. However, this can be explained quite easily: MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, and Ashwin have all batted at No. 8 for India in this period, and have scored centuries and half-centuries fairly often.

In fact, a lot of countries have slightly skewed figures because of their No. 8 batsmen. England have had Matt Prior batting in that position on occasion, while Bangladesh have had Mohammad Mahmudullah, and West Indies have had Darren Sammy. Most nations have decent batsmen coming in at No. 8, so it would perhaps be more telling to consider only the batsmen coming in to bat between Nos. 9 and 11, in the same time frame:

Team

Players

M

I

NO

Runs

HS

Ave

100s

50s

Australia

22

55

232

79

2972

99

19.42

0

11

New Zealand

16

41

190

61

2086

67

16.17

0

6

South Africa

18

43

143

38

1637

61

15.59

0

3

England

18

60

230

64

2495

169

15.03

1

3

West Indies

20

39

169

40

1615

95

12.51

0

2

Sri Lanka

16

41

164

46

1462

78

12.38

0

2

Bangladesh

18

27

140

43

1171

113

12.07

1

1

India

22

52

230

63

1775

63*

10.62

0

4

Pakistan

21

44

181

53

1318

65*

10.29

0

3

Zimbabwe

16

14

79

19

526

31*

8.76

0

0

This is where the numbers become far starker. Australia’s Nos. 9-11 enjoy a batting average of 19.42 with 11 half-centuries as opposed to India’s average of 10.62 with four. India’s collective runs scored as well as batting average are worse than even that of Bangladesh.

On Day Three of the ongoing Test, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, and Josh Hazlewood looked completely at ease in the face of some predictable, unimaginative bowing. Johnson was peppered with short balls early in his innings, and looked a bit awkward while facing them. Then Ishant Sharma bowled a friendly slowish short ball that bounced as high as Johnson’s hip. The whirlwind bat swing that followed saw the ball rocket away to the square leg boundary, and that broke the shackles. The Indians kept bowling short to him, and he kept pulling and cutting them away.

Perhaps a few neck-high bouncers aimed at the helmet would have caused a few problems, but bowling short outside the off stump allowed him to slash away to glory; and he did, making 88 off 93 deliveries and wresting the advantage away from India.

When Johnson and Steven Smith were dismissed in the same over, Australia were still around 10 behind India’s score. Had India cleaned out the remaining couple of wickets, India would probably have been 150 runs ahead at stumps. But that was not the case. Mitchell Starc — whose highest Test score of 99 came against (guess who?) at Mohali — came in at No. 9 and seemed to continue from where Johnson had left off. He was not quite as brutal in his stroke-play, but was equally effective. His 52 came in 59 deliveries, and ensured that India had no respite whatsoever.

The fact that Australia’s ninth and tenth wickets added 56 and 51 runs respectively — remember, India’s last four batsmen scored only 49 runs between them — shows just how much the tail-enders were willing to clamp down and apply themselves for the team. Lyon received some harsh short balls from Varun Aaron, one of which struck his arm. But he bared it with a grin and went on to score a valuable 23. Hazlewood, on debut and batting at No. 11, played some good shots and did not at all seem overawed by the occasion.

In contrast, Umesh Yadav tried to go hammer and tongs (and managed nine runs in 21 balls as a result). Aaron, to his credit, tried to defend but proved unequal to the task. In the previous match, however, Aaron and Ishant were both woefully unequal to the task and never looked like even trying to score the remaining runs.

India’s tail has the potential to wag. Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar had helped save a Test in England earlier this year. Umesh and Aaron have guided India to an ODI win. Ishant had dealt with Ajantha Mendis better than most of the top order on India’s fateful tour of Sri Lanka in 2008, and was involved in a match-winning stand against Australia with VVS Laxman at Mohali in 2010. What they lack is the application and guts that the Australians showed. The Indian tail would do well to take some inspiration from this performance, and support the top and middle order with some more determined batting in the future.

(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek and cricket fanatic. You can follow him on Twitter @ShiamakUnwalla)

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