India vs Australia, 1st Test, preview: Can Steven Smith and co. rise above Virat Kohli’s No. 1 team?

Can Smith and co. rise above Kohli’s No. 1 team?

During Australia’s tour of India 2012-13, Virat Kohli had stubble. He was still chubby. He was not at the helm but MS Dhoni. He was not the best batsman in the team but Sachin Tendulkar. He had then averaged 38.7.

For Australia’s tour to India 2016-17, Kohli sports a beard. He now wants to race past Usain Bolt. He now calls the shots across formats. He is now the best batsmen in the team. He now averages 51.75.

Indian cricket has changed in the last 4 years, for Kohli has attained unimaginable highs. He has 4 double-hundreds in 4 successive series. He has now 13 more hundreds in the last 4 years. In addition, he has not lost a series as full-time captain. But this is not only about Kohli. There were, in fact, times when his team rose above his genius. In other words the current Indian Test team looks rather invincible.

Before that, let us not disregard the fact that there will be Steven Smith and David Warner in the four-Test series this Indian summer. Smith ranks No. 1, just place above Kohli, in ICC Test Rankings for batsmen. Warner was the second highest run-scorer, just a place below Kohli, in IPL 2016. All said and done, these two won’t be playing in their home conditions but Kohli’s den, the place where his spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja had taken wickets at 20.1 and 17.5 respectively in Australia’s previous tour — a series that saw 4-0 drubbing over them.

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This Indian team will be even mightier in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2016-17. They are No. 1 in the longest format, having beaten the likes of Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, West Indies in West Indies, and South Africa, New Zealand, and England at home. They have established players such as Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane. They have emerging ones such as triple-centurion Karun Nair and all-rounder Jayant Yadav, who were benched after stunning performances. They have reverse-swing bowlers such as Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Let us not even shed any light on the genius of Ashwin and Jadeja, for the saga of milestones will never end. For that matter India, under Kohli’s captaincy, have not lost a Test in their last 19 encounters.

In the series opener at Pune, India are likely to fashion the same XI they had used for the one-off Test against Bangladesh. However, the last time India played a match here was in an ODI against England. We witnessed Kohli being involved in a 200-run stand with Kedar Jadhav, in a pursuit of 351 runs. From pacers to spinners, everyone was reduced to a punching bag. The track produced an absolute run fest. Regardless, there was a reasonable bounce as well as lateral movement on offer. (Had the match being played with a red ball, the dynamics would have been different.)

First-ever Test on Pune’s bouncy track

The curator Pandurang Salgaoncar suggests that the track will assist the pace unit in its first-ever contest in the longest format. “The ball will fly. There will be very good bounce. The ball will go fast,” the 67-year-old told cricket.com.au.

Like in the ODI, there will be something on offer for the fast bowlers. However, unlike the Bangladesh Test it has cracks, meaning they will open up as the match progresses. Hence, the question beckons: will Kohli go for horses-for-courses ploy? This means, India are likely to give a nod to Jayant ahead of any of the three pacers. Given Umesh and Ishant generate more pace and bounce than the diminutive Bhuvneshwar, the duo is likely to share the ball with the spin troika of Ashwin, Jadeja, and Jayant.

Karun, on the other hand, will have to wait for his next opportunity.

Selection conundrum for Australia

“At the moment you would say he (Renshaw) would play, but we have to sum up what the conditions are like, what the pitches will be like, how we’ll play. He (Renshaw) missed out on (runs in) the tour game. But obviously we put him into this tour game, so it’s a tight call between probably him and Usman, I would think. Shaun (Marsh) did very well, the way he batted again and got a hundred so he’s in good form. We know that he knows the conditions well. Renshaw and Usman and Warner, they would open so I’d imagine that Smith and (Shaun) Marsh would float between three and four. We’re pretty settled on what we want, but at end of the day we need to wait until we get there (Pune) and see the wicket,” Darren Lehman to cricket.com.au.

Unlike India, Australia do not have a well furnished batting line-up. No doubt that Warner, Smith, and Shaun will play given this experience as well as skills in subcontinent conditions.

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Lehman then heaped praises on all-rounder Mitchell Marsh: “He batted really well for us in Sri Lanka (last year) to be fair. He was one of our better batters. So, his subcontinent record is pretty good. He got runs in Dubai when he first toured there, and he got runs in Sri Lanka. He would have loved a big score, but we’ve been impressed with way he plays spin bowling.”

On Australia’s tour to Sri Lanka 2016, Starc scalped 24 wickets at a staggering average of 15.16 amidst his side’s first 3-0 whitewash in Sri Lanka. From natural swing to mighty bouncers to reverse-swing, Starc was at his sublime best. No doubt that the conditions will be more or less similar in India.

“Reverse swing will play its part here, definitely. The pitches wear quickly, so it’s a lot easier to get reverse swing here than most other places. That will be a very big part, and obviously (Josh) Hazlewood and (Mitchell) Starc are very good at it, so is (Mitchell) Marsh. So we’re happy with that,” added Lehman.

This, as a matter of fact, also raises questions over off-spinning all-rounder Glenn Maxwell’s inclusion in the playing XI. Considering the fact that there will be wear and tear, Australia may dare to feature him with Nathan Lyon in the spin department. On the other hand, the visitors also have all-rounders Steve O’Keefe and Ashton Agar in their armoury.

Now that Lehman looks more convinced with Marsh over other three spin all-rounders, it will cause nothing but a headache to captain Smith.

Predictions

Australia have not won a Test since 2004-05. The likes of Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, and Shane Watson captained Australia but could not take their side over the line. This is also evidence to the fact that Australia have been nothing but abysmal in the subcontinent conditions.

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To make matters worse for Smith, Australia will be playing with a team that is a mixture of inexperienced blokes and stalwarts. They will be playing on the back of 0-4 loss against India in 2013 and 0-3 loss against Sri Lanka in 2016. In fact, they have not won a Test in the subcontinent in five-and-half years  and have lost nine Tests in Asia. Yes, their batsmen have been religiously practising against spin for the past one month, but that does not take away the fact that they will lock horns with an Indian team in its prime.

A 4-0 whitewash is the talk of the town, but let us not forget that Australia have a reputation of coming back from the dead.

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (c), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhinav Mukund, Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Lokesh Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Murali Vijay, Jayant Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav

Australia: Steven Smith (c), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Jackson Bird, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve O’Keefe, Matt Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade (wk)

Time: 09:30 IST | 04:00 GMT