The India cricket team has lost the Boxing Day Test against the Australia cricket team at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Despite being in the contest until the last session, Rohit Sharma’s team crumbled under pressure and was defeated by 184 runs. Right now, everyone is blaming the batters, but does the bowler deserve some blame as well? Jasprit Bumrah did incredibly well in both innings, but what about the others? Were they up to the mark?
Bumrah, Siraj & Akash Deep on fire in 2nd innings
Let’s start with the positives first: the pacers, especially in the second innings, were excellent until the ball went soft after 40 overs and the pitch became easy to bat on. But after that, every bowler barring Bumrah looked toothless. The last wicket stand between Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland was worth 61 runs, and it was Bumrah who broke it. He also broke several records on the way, becoming the only bowler with 200 wickets and an average of less than 20 and became the 4th fastest pacer to take 200 Test wickets.
Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj bowled their hearts out, and one might say Rohit Sharma nearly broke Bumrah, who at one point said, “Bas ab. Nahi lag raha zor (That’s it. I can’t have any left anymore).” The spinners should have been better than Lyon on the 5th day, and while Ravindra Jadeja did well, Washington Sundar wasn’t that great and didn’t inspire any trust from his captain.
No support from Washington Sundar & Nitish Kumar Reddy
The issue with the bowling was the first innings. Sure, the pitch was good to bat on, but Siraj was never on point; he went at over 5 runs per over and got zero wickets. Sam Konstas took Bumrah on and threw Team India off, and once again Akash Deep was on point but just didn’t get the wickets he deserved. The biggest issue was the bowling of Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington, or perhaps the lack of it.
Team India bowled 122.4 overs in the first innings, out of which the two all-rounders bowled just 22. That’s not even 20%. What’s the use of playing an all-rounder when they aren’t good enough to deliver? Washington did okay and even got Marnus Labuschagne’s wicket. He didn’t get much help, but in the next innings, when the pitch was much better to bat on, Lyon took the wicket of all three Indian all-rounders.
Jadeja got the three wickets, but two of those were of tailenders. Perhaps it wasn’t their fault that the management didn’t pick an extra spinner for a pitch that wasn’t well-suited to pacers. Going with Nitish Reddy and Washington to strengthen batting made them look worse than they perhaps are.
Rating India bowlers after India vs Australia 4th Test
| 1st innings (Overs & Wickets) | 1st innings (Overs & Wickets) | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jasprit Bumrah | 28.4 overs & 4 wickets | 24.4 overs & 5 wickets | 11/10 for his supreme control, generating fear factor among batters, and ability to bowl 53.2 overs with the same intensity |
| Akash Deep | 28.4 overs & 2 wickets | 17 overs & 0 wickets | 8/10 for generating the most bounce of all pacers, hitting the right lengths throughout the match despite getting just 2 wickets |
| Mohammed Siraj | 23 overs & 0 wickets | 23 overs & 3 wickets | 7/10 for his poor performance in the first innings, where he went at 5.30 runs per over but pulled it back in the second innings |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 23 overs & 3 wickets | 14 overs & 1 wickets | 7/10 provided good control for the most part. Could have varied his pace a little in the first innings but got little to no assistance through the match |
| Nitish Kumar Reddy | 7 overs & 0 wickets | 1 over & 0 wickets | 2/10 for keeping it economical but wasn’t shown any trust by captain Rohit Sharma, bowling a meagre 8 out of 204 overs |
| Washington Sundar | 15 overs & 1 wicket | 4 overs & 0 wickets | 4/10 for taking the wicket of Labuschagne in the first innings but bowled just 19 of the 204 overs Indian bowlers delivered |
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