The wait is finally over, and the first Border-Gavaskar Test is upon us as the highly anticipated series gets underway from Perth.
Kohli’s grim decline continues
Virat Kohli’s speedy decline from his former world class status has accelerated after the 36-year-old was dismissed for just five runs, extending a dismal run of form.
Completely bereft of form, Kohli has now failed to pass 20 in his last five Test innings and looks lost for answers as the prospect of rediscovering his best looks to be slipping away.
Channel 7 commentator Bharat Sundaresan said Kohli looked “anxiety-ridden” and couldn’t settle.
India fuming as DRS ‘gremlins’ haunt Rahul
With India already in big trouble at 3-47, a noise was heard as KL Rahul played at a Mitchell Starc delivery and Australia initiated a DRS review. The video evidence was inconclusive but a spike on snicko was Rahul’s undoing and he was forced to walk off Optus Stadium.
Former international umpire Simon Taufel, speaking on 7’s coverage, said there were “a few gremlins” with the DRS and third umpire Richard Illingworth didn’t immediately get the camera angles he was looking for.
“We saw with that side on shot there was a spike on RTS with the bat away from the pad, in other words the bottom of the bat hadn’t reached the pad,” Taufel said.
“Therefore rolling that through in its natural course, you may have seen that second spike (on Snicko, to indicate bat hitting pad) come through, had it been rolled all the way through.”
“His pad and bat are not together at that point in time as the ball passes,” Matthew Hayden opined.
“It’s (bat hitting pad) after, in fact, the ball passes the edge. Does Snicko pick up the sound of the bat hitting the pad? We’re assuming (Snicko) may be the outside edge of the bat but that may not be the case.”
There was a similar sentiment on Fox Cricket.
“That’s controversial,” Mike Hussey said.
“There was a spike on the snicko, but was the spike coming from the ball hitting the bat, or was it the bat hitting his pad? You could see the bat just clipping the pad, so you’ve got to get the timing right. There’s got to be some doubt there in my mind.”
Veteran duo dropped
India have pulled two selection surprises, with veteran spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin dropped for the first Test. That takes plenty of top-tier experience out of the visitors’ team, with 182 Tests between the duo. All-rounder Washington Sundar is the beneficiary of the big calls, the 25-year-old coming into the Indian side for just his seventh Test match and the condition of the Perth pitch may have had something to do with his inclusion.
“The Indians have obviously looked at the pitch, seen plenty of grass on it,” former Australian batsman Michael Hussey said on Fox Cricket.
“Traditionally it’s very fast and bouncy here as well, so they thought maybe the spinner is maybe not going to play as much of a role and they’re going to go in a different direction.”
Ashwin and Jadeja are both handy with the bat, averaging 25.92 and 35.16 respectively.
“It is a surprise because Ashwin and Jadeja can help out with the bat as well,” Hussey added.
“But I’m sure whatever Indian team they put on the park will show plenty of fight.”
Right-handed pace bowler Harshit Rana and batting all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy make their Test debuts for the visitors and Jasprit Bumrah captains the side.
There were no shocks for the hosts, with Nathan McSweeney the only new face in an otherwise settled Australian side featuring the prolific pace trio of captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
McSweeney made to wait for first impression after receiving baggy green
Earlier on Friday, Australian debutant Nathan McSweeney was presented with his baggy green cap by Darren Lehmann in proud scenes for the 25-year-old batsman and his family. With a substantial hole left in Australia’s top order after David Warner’s retirement, McSweeney beat out the likes of Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft and Sam Konstas to open the batting for the hosts with Usman Khawaja.
With question marks over most of Australia’s batting line-up, there is pressure on McSweeney to find his feet quickly in the Test arena. The South Australia captain will have to wait for his chance with the bat, however, after India captain Jasprit Bumhra won the toss and elected to bat first in Perth.
He made a great start to his Test career, taking a quality catch off Starc’s bowling as Jaiswal fell for a duck.