India’s experienced batters, especially Virat Kohli, the former captain of the side, and Rohit Sharma, the current leader of the longest format, have not been in good touch since the start of the ongoing five-match series in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25. Apart from their opener, KL Rahul, no one has been consistent in the batting department going into the fourth Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
Except for the second innings of the opening Test at the Optus Stadium in Perth, where the openers cracked a 201-run stand, as Yashasvi Jaiswal celebrated a 161-run knock before Kohli enjoyed his unbeaten 100-run knock, the batting has fallen tremendously. The series stands at 1-1 before the last two red-ball games.
India’s former opener, Sunil Gavaskar, has advised batters to drop the anchor and focus only on staying in the middle when the ball is new rather than scoring quick runs.
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“Don’t look at a scoreboard. Just look at the clock and just get there. That’s the thing that this is where I want to be at lunch. And then because it gives you a little time to settle down, it also gives you a sense of what the pitch is.” The former captain of India expressed this during a discussion on Star Sports.
Sanjay Banger advises India to take a leaf out of Australia’s strategy
He reckoned that the young left-handed opening batter, Jaiswal, had been getting out quite early, even though Rahul had been able to see off the new cherry.
The former opening batter of Australia, Matthew Hayden, highlighted that the touring batters had looked in a bit of urgency, as he cited the example of how Nathan McSweeney, despite not getting the rewards, has given full respect to the new ball.
“I just feel at the moment that there’s an urgency around India’s batting. Technically, find a way to get through the new ball. Try to find a way to stay and remain at the crease. Nathan McSweeney hasn’t set this series alight, but what he has done is resisted the urge to get out early. Usman Khawaja is a bit the same. And that’s Australian conditions. It’s a new ball wicket. Melbourne will be no different, nor Sydney.” Hayden interacted in the same discussion.
The only bowler to shine throughout the series for India is their premier pacer from Ahmedabad, Jasprit Bumrah, and Australia has found a new strategy to deal with the 30-year-old. The former batting coach of India, Sanjay Banger, has suggested the visitors keep an eye on the home side.
“I think, at times, you also have to look at what the opposition is doing better. Now, after their first innings loss or poor performance against the Indian bowlers, the Australian team thought that let us see through (Jasprit) Bumrah, and that’s where you could see the clear game plan working in the Adelaide Test wherein McSweeney and (Marnus) Labuschagne played out a crucial session so that their middle order can come in and cash in and that allowed Travis Head to play with a lot of freedom.” The former Indian all-rounder shed light.
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He felt that the top order of India could look to try and push the bowlers coming back time after time and spells after spells and see if they could deceive them with the older ball.
“Those are the challenges that you have to give as a batting group to one another and try and get out of this rut because in four innings out of the five on this series, we’ve seen the same story happening again,” Bangar concluded.
The last two games in Melbourne and Sydney will be acid Tests for India’s top order, and they need to fire to keep them in the series.