India will be glad to go all square to Melbourne after the great escape

India will be glad to go all square to Melbourne after the great escape

Over a month in Australia, India has seen it all. The high at Perth, the low at Adelaide and the stalemate at Brisbane, with the weather lending a generous hand in the last fixture. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy series is level at 1-1 and with two Tests remaining, Rohit Sharma’s men will get extra opportunities to revive their campaign.

R. Ashwin’s sudden retirement has added another layer and it is never easy to move on when a champion departs. In a sense, without meaning it that way, he has revived the transition process, a movement which saw Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane lose their Test spots.

From the original core-group, Rohit, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja are still part of the mix. But time and tide wait for none and in the coming months and years, more storied careers will hit the full-stop button. In this series, Kohli found his voice at Perth before the old vulnerability around off-stump cropped up again. Rohit, meanwhile, has strived but either succumbed to tough deliveries or erred in his judgement.

Jadeja, finally getting an opportunity at the Gabba, was rusty as a bowler and doughty as a batter. With Ashwin’s exit, he becomes the number one spinner in terms of legacy within the squad, even if that doesn’t necessarily guarantee a spot in the playing eleven while competing overseas.

K.L. Rahul’s consistency (235 runs averaging 47) and the lower-order’s pluck, has bailed out India. But the other batters have to rally around, be it veterans like Kohli and Rohit, or youngsters like Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal. To expect Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep to bowl incisively and also bat with gumption, all the time, is too lopsided a hope.

The duo, in a sense, saved the third Test by helping India avoid the follow-on. The constant rains through the Test meant that it became a rare contest which lasted five days. It scuppered the host’s plans to maximise the value of a first innings score of 445. However, India would be glad to have staged the great escape.

With the fourth Test commencing here from December 26, Rohit’s men get some time to unwind, train well and also firm up their strategies. The failure of the established batters, Rahul being an exception, has meant that Rishabh Pant, stepping in at five, is burdened with the task of rebuilding. He and Nitish Kumar Reddy, offer some insurance, but being constantly saddled with a salvage-operation can be a draining experience.