India’s unmissable opportunity to rewrite the history books
- Tom Dalrymple
- Oct 20, 2018
- 3 min read
Following their heroic Khawaja inspired draw in the first test, Australia slumped to a resounding 373 run defeat in the second test in Abu Dhabi, a defeat that continued to highlight a variety of problems they face going into their home series against India.
India have never won a test series in Australia in 12 attempts dating back to 1947/48, and their upcoming tour represents a golden opportunity for them to put that right. With Australia still weakened by the ongoing bans to Cameron Bancroft, Steve Smith and David Warner, and a strong Indian pace attack, the tables have turned in India’s favour.
The series against Pakistan illustrated the gaping holes that Australia are left with in their middle order. My favourite stat to come out of the series was that Mohammad Abbas took 17 wickets in the series, 3 more than Shaun Marsh scored runs (14 at an average of 3.5). Add in the misery of brother Mitchell Marsh (30 runs at 7.5) and it looks like a fragile batting line up.
Shaun Marsh has played some good innings in the past couple of years for Australia, but has continually struggled when given responsibility batting higher up the order. In 24 innings at 3 or 4 (12 innings each), he has 7 ducks and a below par average of 25, compared to an average of 42.55 at 5 and an impressive Ashes series batting at 6 last winter.
He has continually failed to perform in these positions and has never looked like a test match number 3 throughout his career. With the injury to Khawaja looking likely to keep him out of the test series against India, Australia have a lot of gaps to fill before the series begins. It is likely Renshaw will return to open, but the number 3 position Khawaja often fills looks to be a huge vacancy.
With Khawaja out and the Marsh’s struggling for runs, Australia look ripe for the taking. India’s bowling attack put on an extremely impressive display during the series against England, and they have a variety of options available to them with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav providing backup to the frontline attack of Bumrah, Ishant and Shami.
The arrival of young opener Prithvi Shaw is another added bonus, and the recent series against the West Indies enabled others such as Rahane and Jadeja to find some form and confidence ahead of a big tour.
Prithvi Shaw became the second youngest Indian to make a test century (after Tendulkar), making a 99 ball century on debut against the West Indies
The sole consolation for Australia is that there are still 6 weeks before the start of the series, and they will likely have their first-choice bowling attack of Hazlewood, Starc, Cummins and Lyon reunited for the first test. In the meantime, they can only hope some batsman find form in the Sheffield Shield.
It is possible there will never be a better opportunity for India to rewrite the history books. An Australian side looking increasingly frail with the loss of Khawaja will come up against perhaps the best Indian pace attack ever assembled. It promises to be a thriller, and for the sake of maintaining interest in test cricket I hope it’s a close series.
For now, Australia have a lot of work to do to prepare for a stern challenge against the world’s number 1 test team, and it looks as through India may head into the series as favourites. Frequently criticised for their inability to win away from home, they won’t get many more opportunities better than this one.
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