Ravindra Jadeja is looking at a pretty decent landmark when the rain clears in Brisbane. The 500th wicket by a spinner at the Gabba.
The fact that he was out there though was a bit of a surprise. There’s a bit of history about choosing to bowl first at the Gabba. India have a bit of history with it as well. They haven’t chosen to bowl in an overseas Test since 2014.
In the first two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the reason for India batting first was clear. In Perth, with the pitch breaking down as the game goes on, uneven bounce comes into play, and run-making in the final innings becomes hard. Pakistan were bowled out for 89 batting last in 2023. In Adelaide, with it being a day-night Test, batting first comes with the possibility of doing well and earning the chance to declare at twilight on day two.
At the Gabba, India completed a hat-trick of successful tosses in this series, and bowled first. That’s how teams had won five of the last six Tests here. The only exception was Australia’s day-night fixture against West Indies earlier this year when Shamar Joseph turned himself into a household name. The Gabba pitch doesn’t deteriorate so badly, so on a day like Saturday when it was overcast and the pitch had a bit of a green tinge, there was every reason for India to trust their bowlers to get assistance, and also perhaps enough reason to suspect their batters might have had it tough.
India have been concerned about their batting on this tour, about the pace and bounce on offer and the need to have insurance against it. That’s why they began the series by giving debuts to Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy. That meant they had people until No. 9 capable of scoring some runs if it was needed and two weeks ago they certainly thought it was needed.
Then Reddy came good and gave India the option to play around a bit more with their bowlers, specifically their spinners. Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said they chose R Ashwin for the Adelaide Test because he was the better bowler. They weren’t so worried about his batting because they were comfortable with Reddy’s output at No. 7.
Jadeja being brought in for Brisbane might suggest they’re back to considering their batting depth. He is certainly the best source for runs of all their three spinners, and he averages 21.78 with the ball in Australia.
Now that India have made their decision, they need to be enforced. In what seemed like an attempt to correct what happened in the first innings of the pink-ball Test, when Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labsuchagne were allowed to leave the ball fairly easily, India seemed to stray down leg a little bit with the new ball in Brisbane. The first runs came through four leg-byes to fine leg.
Since that uproarious first day in Perth, India have not been able to make the most of the new ball and that is a problem. The Kookaburra, while its hard and shiny, reacts off the pitch. It stops doing that once it gets older and softer.
Shubman Gill said the key to batting here is surviving the initial 30 overs. After that, it doesn’t matter how well you bowl, the ball doesn’t react off the pitch that much. It becomes easier to line it up. India allowed Australia to skip away to 19 for 0 in 5.3 overs. Then the first spell of rain came. There was a chance to regroup.
Between overs 6 and 13.2, India gave away only eight runs and within that period they strung together three successive maidens. Akash Deep, who was brought into this game instead of Rana, looked sharp.
The weather is still suspect for tomorrow but whatever play is possible might take place under overcast conditions. India will want to keep up the rhythm they settled on after the rain break on Saturday. The new ball is crucial, especially for a team that’s won the toss and chosen to bowl.
