Perth: If Jasprit Bumrah’s opening-day demolition of Australia’s batting brought the sublime to this Test match, then the sight of Marnus Labuschagne trying to bounce out India’s openers, before tea on day two, was the ridiculous.
Talk about Labuschagne’s potential bowling role, including the short-ball tactic at speeds in the mid-130km/h range, had been a minor theme of the lead-up to this series.
Marnus Labuschagne bending his back.Credit: Getty Images
It told much of Australian hesitance about over-bowling Mitch Marsh, and perhaps their regret about the back trouble that befell Cameron Green. Labuschagne appears unconcerned about giving himself a similar injury from bending his back.
But the vast scale of Australia’s humbling, from a point where they had India 6-73 on the first afternoon, made Labuschagne the kind of option Pat Cummins was compelled to turn to, if only for two overs (including the final over before stumps).
While it cannot be denied that Bumrah was close to unplayable on the first evening, grabbing his moment as captain to shatter the Australian top order, the home side’s standing as world Test champions demanded finding a way to get to stumps with less damage sustained than an unsightly seven wickets.
In New Zealand’s recent triumph over India, the Black Caps had to chase a tricky 107 in the fourth innings of a match they had dominated, and Bumrah bowled nearly as well as he managed to in Perth.
Plenty of deliveries threatened the outside edge or the pads, but Bumrah was stymied for just long enough by the relatively modest talents of Will Young to ensure New Zealand would not collapse. In turn, that allowed the more gifted Rachin Ravindra to make the game safe and set up the series.
Excepting debutant Nathan McSweeney, it fell to Usman Khawaja, Labuschagne and Steve Smith to find a way through. Neither Khawaja’s 19 balls nor Smith’s golden duck were enough, and Labuschagne’s torturous longer stay served mainly to demonstrate a lack of balance between defence and attack.
Close observers of Bumrah’s quality have long sensed that purely trying to survive will not get the job done, and Labuschagne’s attempt to mimic Cheteshwar Pujara ended only in disappointment. He must find a way to impose more pressure next time, or risk becoming a stationary target the selectors may have to dispense with.
“I think mindset, in particular – that rings true for Marnus Labuschagne in what I saw of him yesterday,” Simon Katich said on the Seven broadcast. “92 per cent of the balls he faced yesterday, he either defended or left. That’s not how you survive on this wicket. He entered the series saying he wanted to bat like Pujara, for long periods of time.
Jasprit Bumrah claimed Alex Carey with his first ball on day two.Credit: Getty Images
“The problem is, if you’re having to absorb six balls an over and you’re not looking to use your bat, you can’t get off strike. The pressure built. In the end, the dam wall broke yesterday and he got lbw, and he’s a better player than that. That, to me, was about his mindset yesterday.”
For now, at least, there is no question of changing the batting line-up. Reserve batter Josh Inglis is relocating his red-ball game after a surfeit of limited-overs cricket, and in domestic ranks there are few, if any, standout choices. This is especially the case for top-three batters.
Australian debriefs on the first evening now look likely to have to stretch over several days, because the Optus Stadium surface settled down markedly on day two. First it allowed Mitchell Starc to linger at the crease until the lunch break, allowing the tally to crawl past three figures.
Then, when Cummins and company needed to find a burst of similar dimensions to Bumrah, their offerings were defused with aplomb by the opening combination of K.L. Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
In their combination of sturdy defence and wise choices of attacking shots, Rahul and Jaiswal demonstrated the sort of quality batting that has been Australia’s stumbling block in each of their past two home series against India in 2018-19 and 2020-21.
Among recent Australian Test matches, the scoreboard late on day two was starting to resemble that of Abu Dhabi in 2018, when Pakistan were bowled out cheaply on day one, only for Australia’s limp first innings to let them take the game away.
Further back into the mists of history was a Test in Barbados in 1991, where Allan Border’s side knocked over the West Indies for 149, only to be rolled for 134 themselves and then compelled to watch Gordon Greenidge spend nearly two days over 226 in a total of 9-536 declared.
Greenidge, the great Caribbean opener, was a name once raised by batting coach Trent Woodhill to describe Rahul, and there was certainly plenty of steel about the way he dug in alongside the more aristocratic stylings of Jaiswal. His leg side flick for six off Starc was worthy of another West Indian, Sir Garfield Sobers.
Undoubtedly, India’s openers would have been delighted to be facing Labuschagne. It was a marker of how much space has been put between the teams, all because Australia’s top order could find no way to get past the brilliant Bumrah.
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