Virat's 'lack of intent' explanation for batting collapse is bizarre

Did Virat's poor captaincy on day 2 cause Australia's turnaround?

India looked all set to seal the game when Umesh Yadav picked up the wickets of Marnus Labuschagne and Pat Cummins in the same over on day 2 of the first Test at Adelaide. The Aussies were still a long way away from India's score and in danger of conceding a big first-innings lead. Then, a familiar story played out. Tim Paine, the Aussie skipper, decided used the now very popular method of protecting the tail - playing majority of the over himself and then looking for a single on the last two balls of the over to farm the strike. To some extent, Paine succeeded in doing that and brought India's lead, which at one stage seemed set to be over 100, down to 53. In this situation, India's captain Virat Kohli did what many captains in the past have been guilty of - focussing on the lower order batsman and trying only to get him out while letting the senior batter to get runs easily. This is a strategy that has backfired on numerous occassions for captains around the world. Remember MS Dhoni at MCG in 2011 or Mohammad Yousuf at SCG in 2010? There are various examples of this phenomenon. The point is - a captain should never allow easy runs to a batsman and only focus on getting the weaker batsman out. Kohli was guilty of that on day 2 of this Test. The fact that he shifted to this tactic as soon as Paine showed aggressive intent pours cold water on all the talk of him representing a 'new India' with aggressive intent. The ease with which Paine got singles and managed to even steal a second run on certain occassions was a clinching evidence of how poor this tactic was. It eventually allowed Australia to whittle down India's lead to a much less daunting 53. This late surge may have had far-reaching consequences. It's possible that a despondent Australia felt morally revived on seeing their captain's fight and became more eager to fightback. Their bowlers certainly seemed upbeat. This may not have been the case if the home side had a bigger deficit to contend with. The 'lack of intent' which Kohli complained about in his team's batting may be a more appropriate criticism when applied to his captaincy. Being confident and aggressive isn't about swearing at opponents or scowling on getting a wicket. It's about being brave with the fields. That's what made Brendon McCullum so successful. Kohli's has been found wanting here.

Fawad Alam stakes claim for place in Test team with hundred against New Zealand A

After conceding a first-innings lead to New Zealand A, Pakistan Shaheens (Pakistan A) fought back vigorously in the ongoing one-off unofficial Test at Whangerei on day 3. The visitors were powered by centuries from Fawad Alam and Rohail Nazir to reach 318/9, a lead of 286, at Stumps. This leaves the game nicely poised and with possibility of all three results on final day. At the start of day 3, Shaheens were 15/1 and trailing by 17 runs. Overnight batsmen and Pakistan Test team regulars, Shan Masood and Azhar Ali didn't get far. Masood got out for 14 while Ali, former Pakistan Test captain, scored 29. Imran Butt also got out cheaply for 10. But then, Fawad and Rohail stitched together a 215-run partnership which took Pakistan to a much stronger position. Alam scored 139 and Nazir an exact 100. Unfortunately for the Pakistan team, the lower order crumbled away, leaving the possibility of New Zealand A winning alive. For the hosts, Matt Henry, a regular member of the ODI team, picked up five wickets. His figures of 5/52 look very impressive. Medium pacer Michael Rae picked up three wickets as well but he conceded 75 runs for them at an economy rate of 4.41. Rachin Ravindra, who has been in the news with his all-round performances recently, couldn't make an impact with the ball. The final day promises to be very exciting though, Pakistan Shaheens may well be the favourites at the moment.

AUS vs IND: Tim Paine 'rapt' with Australian bowling performance on day 3

At the end of the second day’s play, Australia were behind in the game, not only by conceding a lead of 53 runs but also in the momentum as the Virat Kohli-led Indian side was surging ahead of them on the day two. Barring for the period when Tim Paine was guiding his bowlers who were functioning as his batting partner in the late part of the day’s play, both Virat Kohli, the captain and his bowlers kept on asking uncomfortable questions to the home batsmen. No one batsman other than Tim Paine looked fluent enough to counter-attack the consistently attacking Indian bowling line up. When Australian were walking off the field after the end of day’s play, Paine would have had a bit of worry that his restless about facing defeats at the hands of India in the last series could last longer than he would have accepted and expected before the start of ongoing series and test match. All were riding on the shoulders of bowlers to bring the hosts back in the game like their Indian counterparts had done on that day and avenge the loss of reputation they faced in the last series when they were deflated by a never-tired Chesteshwar Pujara. It’s an old argument that when bowlers try too hard to make things happen, they can’t commit to line and lengths to trouble batsmen over an extended period of time. But, Tim Paine was aware of the competence of his bowling attack which almost handed him the honour of winning an away Ashes series only last series. He expected bowlers to bring them back at the front in the game situation and his bowlers vindicated his feeling by blowing the Indian batting order as soon as the play began on the third day. "I know we were behind by after the first innings, but there was a calmness amongst us. I can probably speak for the bowling group in saying that we thrive on those situations when we're a little bit behind and it's up to us to change the momentum of the game, and that's what we did today," Paine said in the post-match press conference. Tim Paine has rated the Indian bowling attack very highly and hence had expected a ‘dogfight’ that would drag the game towards day four and day five, but at the same time, he had immense faith in the quality of his bowling line up as well. Pat Cummins was up to the task as the Aussies eliminated a threat that could have irritated them in the form of nightwatchman Jasprit Bumrah and followed it up with a peach of a delivery to eliminate Pujara who was the biggest thorn in their flesh last time around. With Pujara one on duck, the pressure was right back on the Indian team and they could not quite come back from the position as Josh Hazlewood produced unplayable deliveries, one after another to leave the tourists in tatters. Virat Kohli tried to combat those deliveries by showing ‘intent’ as he tried to transfer a bit of pressure but his chief nemesis in the Australian side-- Pat Cummins got him edging to gully, and with him faded every hope of their resurgence. "To hang in to give our bowlers a chance to have a little crack under lights last night, then to have Pat start the day like he did and Josh Hazlewood from his very first ball was just on. When you are as tall and quick as our boys and they get it right, it can be an absolute nightmare. Full credit to our bowling attack again. I said this morning that I thought both these attacks have the ability to take really quick wickets - I didn't think they'd be coming that quick. We were expecting a real dogfight right to the end -late day four and maybe day five - but it shows the talent we've got with the ball when our boys execute. If there's anything in the wicket that's what can happen," Paine said of the bowling performance in the morning session of the third day. Not only did the Australians snatched victory when the match was seemingly going away from them, but they would also be delighted with Joe Burns coming near to his best albeit against a bowling line up that clearly looked jaded and deflated after a debacle with the bat from their teammates. Burns was personally backed by both Paine and the coach Justin Langer to come good in Adelaide, and while he failed to capitalise on the trust in the first innings, a distraught bowling attack was the best thing he could have hoped for while battling for form. Burns hit a fifty he needed badly to reclaim a bit of confidence and also to safeguard his batting position going ahead in the series "Burnsey is a really important part of our team, all cricketers know how hard it is when going through a run like that. To come out in Test cricket and try and find your way out of it, it's a very difficult place to be so we are thrilled for Burnsey. Fifty not out will do his confidence a world of good," Paine sounded relieved after Burns’ revival to form or at least a glimpse of it. Australia have taken a much-needed lead in the Border Gavaskar trophy and with Virat Kohli returning to India for his paternity leave, the well-oiled bowling attack would be relishing the prospect of facing an inexperienced Indian batting line up with only Chesteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane being the experienced foes remaining in the Indian batting order for the second test starting December 26 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

AUS vs IND: Kohli laments 'lack of intent' from batsmen; admits 'worst batting collapse'

When Jasprit Bumrah had survived the tough session late on the day 2, Virat Kohli was seen very happy and he commended Bumrah for showing a strong character with the bat after he along with other bowlers had brought India back in the game. The happiness on Kohli’s face was justified given the state of the game where India were leading the Australians by 62 runs and he would have hoped for a similar performance from the batsmen in the second innings on day three like they had shown on day one of the Test. But, he must have got the reality check about the pink-ball test that things happen very quickly here and that poor performance in s a span of 20 minutes can throw you off from the game. India were bowled out for 36 runs (36/9), their lowest team total in the history of test cricket and Virat Kohli admitted that he had never seen any worse batting collapse than the one his team encountered in the second innings of the Adelaide Test that Australia won by eight wickets. However, he expressed optimism that the team would learn the lessons albeit in a harsh way and all players will step up their games as he is heading back home for the first of his first child. "A few of the guys are going to realise their true characters and how they can step up for the side. I'm very confident that we will learn from this. I don't think we have ever had a worse batting collapse than this, and it can only go up from here and understand as a team we can do special things when there is a partnership. I'm sure we will bounce back strongly in the next Test and there is no doubt about that," said in the post-match press conference. For captains such as Virat Kohli, staying ahead of the opposition has always been the key to win test matches and he pointed out that the batsmen missed that trick on the morning of the third day. He reiterated the second famous word in Indian cricket nowadays-- ‘intent’, with ‘talent’ being the number one buzzworthy word. He said that if the opposition can sense the amount of pressure you are putting on yourself as a batsman in crunch situations like the one they faced in the morning, they can go for the kill and will attempt to squeeze further to dominate. “As much as you plan on the team level, individuals need to have the right mindset in these critical moments and take the game forward. That is how you move towards winning. If your mindset is not right, like ours wasn't today, when we lacked in intent, the opposition can sense it and put you under extreme pressure. That is exactly what happened. The individuals will have to see how they can have the mindset to take the game forward given the team's situation," Kohli added. He identified his own batting style and said that whenever he has been successful in combatting situations like the one they faced today, he always looks to attack to put the pressure back on the bowling side. He stressed that the Indian batsmen did not bat with the right frame of mind and put themselves under a lot of pressure, which ultimately led to their downfall. He tried to show intent after the fall of crucial wickets around him but Australia were to have a better day than him and his team as he edged a delivery off Pat Cummins to a tumbling Cameron Green positioned at the gully. " Whenever we have performed well, especially overseas… see you can make all the team plans you want, it is more important what the mindset of the individuals taking the field is. At an individual level, you have to be clear when you step on the field as to how you want to play, whether you want to take the game forward or you want to play absolutely solid. That you are very sound defensively and are feeling comfortable. Historically, I can tell you whenever I have batted well in these situations my plan has been to go and get quick 30-40 runs and take the game forward. This is very significant,” Kohli added. Indian bowlers had bowled admirably on day two to pull back things for the tourists who seemed to have lost the control of the game after getting skittled for a mere 244 through a collapse in the lower-order. India had a lead of 53 runs and it all needed a solid display of batting performance to stamp their authority on the flow of the game. Expert, as well as fans, had viewed the lead as a significant tactical advantage for the tourists, but interestingly, Kohli saw the lead in a different context. He said that the lead had put batsmen on notice that they were close to a winning performance and ultimately adopted a much more cautious approach than he would have liked his fellow batsmen to have. He again stressed on the issue of ‘lack of intent shown by the batsmen as they had shown in the first innings where the bowlers were bowling similarly to what they bowled in the second innings which turned out to be mayhem for the Indian batting line up. "A bit of lead can always be tricky because as a batting unit you can go into a headspace where you feel like we are just 50 or 60 ahead and you don't want to lose early wickets and allow opposition back into the game. So you always have to be positive and you can't think like that. Hence I said we lacked intent because we should have just seen where the game has to go rather than where it has come to till now and move the game forward, which we were not able to do. I think the way we batted allowed them to look more potent than they were in the morning, to be honest. They bowled similarly in the first innings and we batted way, way better,” Kohli added. Kohli also lamented the poor fielding efforts by his team as they dropped as many as five catches that included three off Marnus Labuschagne and one off Tim Paine and in the end, both were the top scorers for the Australian side and trimmed the lead to only 53 which looked a distant reality when wickets were falling in clusters. Kohli rued the dropped catches and said that his team learned the lesson of dropping catches in the harshest way possible. He said if the fielders could have grabbed the chances offered to them by the Australian batsmen, the lead might have been more than 100 and in case the men in blue had got off to a good start, it was the home side, not India, that would have panicked under pressure. "I think it was seven down for 110. If I am not wrong when Tim Paine offered a chance and then he got 70-odd from thereon. Then Marnus Labuschagne. A couple of chances off him as well. So Test cricket, you have to take your chances when they come your way. They can be very very costly, something that we realised in a very harsh way today. What the repercussions of not taking those chances can be, and will be in Test cricket. Teams will not offer you opportunities again and again. You have to take them when they come your way and try and capitalise on that momentum. That definitely would have been a boost for us if we had a lead of a few runs more. Then we are already over 100, and with a decent start, the opposition starts panicking," Kohli came down heavily on his teammates for a poor day in the field and letting Australia off the hook. The coronavirus pandemic has forced cricketers and athletes to stay in bio-secure bubbles in order to participate in games and Virat Kohli had earlier warned about the fatigue and the effects of a prolonged period in isolation on the mental health of players. He was asked if the batting collapse had anything to do with ‘quarantine fatigue’ and the Indian captain plainly ruled out that aetiology calling “I don’t think so.” He said that the team has been playing as a unit for a fairly long period of time and that they understand the roles they are expected to play in different circumstances of a game. He balmed the execution part of the game and not the fatigue behind the failures in the first test. "I don't think so," Kohli said. "We have played enough cricket to understand what needs to be done at different stages of a Test match, and it is just lack of execution. It is just lack of executing a plan that is apt for the situation, and it is to move the game. Day three is called moving day and you drive home the advantage. Lead of 62 runs with nine wickets in hand, should have definitely put in a better batting performance. I don't think any mental fatigue was involved, it was only the first Test of the series," Kohli weighed in on the aspects of the team’s performance. The things can go in more wrong ways for the Indians as their leading pacer Mohammed Shami has taken a blow to his right arm and might as well miss the next Test if the injury turns out to be serious. Virat Kohli confirmed that Shami was not able to lift his hands due to unbearable pain and the team management would be fretting at Shami’s injury with Ishant Sharma already being absent from the tour due to injury and the effects of his absence were telling on the Indian bowling line up.