Sunil Gavaskar always advocates rules in favour of batsmen and in his defence he always argues that it takes just one delivery, good or bad for a bowler to undo all the hard work put in by batsmen. A batsman can be dismissed by some of the worst balls, while some of their best shots can be caught in unbelievable fashion to send them back to the pavilion.
The reverse can also be true. A batsman can also get back in his best rhythm in a span of one ball or one shot where he gets the feel-good factor about finding the middle of the bat.
Although Mr Gavaskar has not said this yet, for the Australian opener Joe Burns, the reverse was true and he was happy at the receiving end of it in the first test against Adelaide.
Burns has not a great time in the middle with bat and his place in the playing XI was up for debate before both David Warner and Will Pucovski were ruled out of the first test
His start with the bat in the Adelaide test was not any good either as after battling the initial spells of Jaspirt Bumrah and Umesh Yadav, he was caught in front of the stumps, only just by a Bumrah’s yorker and the trouble was deepening for Burns.
In the second innings as well, he was greeted with short balls by a deflated Indian bowling attack and one hit his arm near the elbow region. His life at the crease was getting worse as he was made to bat almost with only one arm, but the breakthrough moment arrived for the beleaguered opener until that point when one of the short delivery off Umesh Yadav could not rise much and he found the middle of the bat to despatch it to the boundary.
Burns saw both the comical and philosophical side of the game when he felt like coming back into a rhythm once again, which he felt was just one shot away.
"It's funny how in this game it's often one shot that can give you everything you've been searching for. Probably the first pull shot I hit off Umesh Yadav, think I was on 4 and it came out of the middle and felt amazing. I think all summer I've been confident, I've been batting well, just without rhythm. To find some rhythm in the middle, often it can be one shot away. I just kept working hard, been in this situation many times before, you know how quickly it can turn," Burns said.
Burns has had a horror run of form leading up to the first test with an aggregate of 62 runs from nine innings for Queensland and Australia A. He said that although he would have loved the prospect of facing the Indian team and the bowling attack on the back of the good form, he is experienced enough to decipher that past performance only plays a little role in shaping one’s technique and class which are permanent and players don’t lose those values overnight.
"And to take on a fantastic opposition in such a big series, it's easy to get yourself locked in before that first ball. I'd love to be coming off four-five first-class hundreds but at the end of the day it doesn't matter what's happened before, your skills stay the same and your job stays the same and your ambitions stay the same. You just have to do it. Fortunately for me I've got 10 years of experience to draw on if the preceding five or six weeks weren't great,” Burns added.
Burns has been cleared to play in the Boxing Day test after the scans have ruled out any serious injury due to the blow he took and it would be a deja vu moment for him. He had made his debut in Test cricket at the same ground and against the same opposition--India in 2014 and like his debut Test match, coming in with a lot to prove about his quality as a batsman. For Burns, the return to test cricket felt almost like a test debut only after a prolonged period of lockdown and quarantine and he would be hoping to make amends with the bat in the next test and dismiss all the talks around his place in the starting Xi.
"You reflect on the year that's been, the big lay-off from playing with the pandemic going on, then we were playing Shield games at some club grounds so it was nice to get out in a Test match at a Test venue, more than anything to get back around this group. I said to one of the boys on the first day coming in, it certainly felt like being home again, so much confidence in this team and it flows through to all the players,” Burns reflected on the year that was tough for the world as well as for sportspersons.
Burns’ place in the playing Xi for the Adelaide test was confirmed only after the injury to Will Pucoski as both Warner and Pucovski were injured. But, the coach Justin Langer always backed Joe Burns to come good and he had put all his weight behind Burns’ who was clearly short of runs as well as confidence.
"I've been privately and publicly backing Joe the whole time, he's a very good player, you don't lose your talent overnight. He also understands though runs are the greatest currency of value to any player. We'll make our decision on who's going to open in the next day or so," Langer had said of Joe Burns.
Now, as Burns has shown signs of coming back into good form after hitting a half-century in the second innings of the Adelaide test, he is all praise for his coach for backing him to the hilt when all were seeking his exclusion. He emphasized that Langer had only advised him to be mentally focussed and backed him to play his shots in perfect batting rhythm while in training.
“Obviously JL has been right in my corner over the last few weeks. The message from him was just about finding rhythm, more than anything in the preparation he really wanted me to play my shots in training and be strong-minded. I guess that shone through in that innings and by the end it felt amazing. Always a special feeling when you aren't making runs and you have someone in your corner. The challenges of international cricket keep coming and for the rest of the series it will be very tough, my job and my goal is to get big matchwinning hundreds in those games. "There's always noise in this game, it's why you love playing for Australia. Think JL said there's always theatre around the team. Those conversations I had with Justin were fantastic. He has been through it all before, he knows what it's like to open the batting for his country. It's very relatable. The message was, you miss out in a few games, it doesn't change your ability, confidence, mindset, preparation,” Burns said.
After his debut six years back, Joe Burns has had a discontinuous international career through the various streak of poor form and other batsmen coming through ranks. There is no dearth of opening batsmen in Australia with the likes of Will Pucovski and Marcus Harris already knocking the selection door down. It won’t be long before Burns will be asked to make way for others, like in the past, if he does not make full use of the backings he has got from the leadership group of the Australian team including captain Tim Paine, and coach Justin Langer.
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