Brisbane: It’s just Rohit Sharma’s luck that his decision to send Australia in at the Gabba would be analysed and magnified even more than usual due to the tropical downpours that reduced play to just 13.2 wicketless overs on day one.
But the way Australia’s openers started in that hour’s play suggested strongly that, not for the first time, a touring captain had been too easily seduced into bowling by Brisbane’s humid climes.
Pat Cummins and Rohit Sharma at the coin toss.Credit: Getty Images
As India’s skipper, Rohit has had a nightmare tour so far, after arriving late due to the birth of his second child. Jasprit Bumrah led India to a roaring victory in the first Test in Perth, before Rohit’s return coincided with a heavy defeat in Adelaide.
Batting first in the pink-ball Test had been a source of debate, with talk that some members of the Indian camp would have preferred to send the Australians in against Bumrah in humid conditions.
So it was that, greeted by more overcast skies and a tinge of green on the Gabba surface, Rohit decided this time to field first and welcome Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney to the middle.
If there was trepidation about the start of the innings, though, most of it appeared to rest with the Indian team. Australia, more than likely, were always looking to bat first.
Khawaja and, to a lesser extent, McSweeney both know the Gabba well, and batting first here is not necessarily a bad thing. The same softness in the surface that Rohit referred to at the coin toss makes it a more forgiving place to bat to start with than later in the game once the pitch hardens.
And certainly, in terms of recent history, winning teams tend not to get there by choosing to bowl first. Apart from Australia’s victory in a hectic two-day game against South Africa here in December 2022, the last time a team inserted the opposition and won at the Gabba was in 2000, a date so long ago that it was the last time West Indies were invited to Australia for the kind of five-match series that India now enjoy.
The Gabba was soaked on day one of the third Test.Credit: AP
To find the last time Australia lost a Test match in Brisbane after being sent in, it is necessary to go all the way back to 1985 and Sir Richard Hadlee’s demolition of Allan Border’s men to help New Zealand clinch the Trans-Tasman Trophy.
Saturday’s early exchanges reflected Australian calm and Indian impatience. While Khawaja’s innings is still in the cameo phase, he looked assured in both defence and attack, pulling and glancing with precision when he wasn’t leaving well.
McSweeney was less comfortable, looking somewhat hesitant to try to score, but he was able to absorb 33 balls without giving a chance. With each delivery negotiated, hackles rose among the tourists.
Mohammed Siraj, greeted with a round of pantomime booing from a crowd that built to 30,145 spectators – all subsequently entitled to a refund – was speaking with the umpires about a replacement ball inside five overs.
India’s bowling was far too short early on, causing former Test opener Aaron Finch to remark on Seven: “You have to be prepared to go a little bit fuller than that at the Gabba. Your length has to change slightly depending on the surface – you have to bring the batter forward.”
Rohit and bowling coach Morne Morkel were seen conferring during the first, brief, rain delay, with the captain miming a forward stroke that he had not seen much of in the opening overs of the day.
Then there was the curious sight of Rohit conferring with Bumrah about bowling and field settings before Virat Kohli came and took over the conversation, guiding Bumrah away from his captain for their own discussion.
These kinds of scenes are always magnified on days when rain curtails play. Khawaja’s first Test innings, a handy 37 at the SCG in January 2011, became the story of the moment when only 59 overs were bowled on day one of an Ashes match.
Sydney has seen plenty such days in recent summers, where small morsels of play are looked upon with so much more intensity than had they been part of a much larger picture.
India may well come back on day two and make much better headway after recalibrating their lines and lengths. That’s pretty much exactly what happened in Brisbane in 2003, when Sourav Ganguly chose to bowl first and a first-day Australian total of 2-262 was turned around to 323 all out by Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar.
But for now, Rohit’s call looks about as questionable as Nasser Hussain’s infamous bowl-first decision for England here in 2002. A big Australian first-innings total would put India’s captain under yet more pressure.
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