“We lost because we told ourselves we lost.” – Leo Tolstoy. For those wondering how the visiting Australians were vanquished by the Indians in two and a half days in the first Test in Nagpur, this quote said everything.
Australians arrived in India with a negative mindset and their diffidence was written all over in their decision to avoid practise matches in India (https://kricketwicket.com/avoiding-practice-matches-in-india-a-psychological-move). Even after batting first after winning the toss, their confused mindset was obvious in the lack of foot work of their openers, Warner and Khawaja, and the way they got out cheaply to Indian seamers. The turn extracted by Jadeja on the first ball bowled by a spinner in this Test match worried them. Though Labuschagne and Smith showed glimpses of their calibre, Jadeja ran through to finish off the Australian innings on the first day itself and a total of 177 was not enough on this pitch which posed no challenges to the batsmen.
Rohit Sharma gave India a flying start and the struggling K L Rahul on the other end raised the eyebrows of even his die-hard fans. Rahul’s selection over in form Shubman Gill puzzled many and created debates in social media. Though Rohit Sharma scored a fine century, Pujara, Kohli and Surya failed to capitalise, and Australia looked like coming back, but rear-guard action by Jadeja, Axar and Shami quelled all Australian hopes. Debutant Murphy found Nagpur conditions to his liking but Lyon’s inability to utilise the conditions hurt Australians more. A lead of 223 on a spin friendly Nagpur pitch was a match winning one.
Those who expected the Australians, known for their aggressive cricket to stage a fight back were disappointed with the way they batted in the second innings. Australians looked mentally outplayed, and the same pitch where Axar and Shami batted with ease against Australian spinners, looked unplayable when Indian spinners bowled. Ashwin in the second innings did the role played by Jadeja in the first innings and Shami finished off the tail and proved that this pitch had something for fast bowlers too. ICC’s disciplinary action against Jadeja for applying pain killer cream on his bowling finger without permission, marred his remarkable comeback with a Man of the Match performance.
Though some former Australian players and foreign media cribbed a lot about Nagpur pitch prior to the Test match, those seemed to affect Australian players more than Indians. Even though the match ended in two and a half days, this was attributed more to the lackadaisical performance of Australians than to the pitch which was never unplayable. Practising in scuffed pitches in Australia and batting against those who mimic Ashwin’s action didn’t seem to help Australians.
This Australian team doesn’t look mentally strong like their predecessors and this Nagpur Test loss should hurt Australia badly since they lost the match mentally before it started. Unless they do something drastic to change their mindset and come back in the remaining two Test matches with a positive mindset, winning Border-Gavaskar trophy this time will remain a distant dream.
