GDP, Aus vs Ind – India have made their choice and now need to make it count

Ravindra Jadeja is looking at quite a decent landmark as the rain clears in Brisbane. The 500th wicket by a spinner at the Gabba.

The fact that he was out there was a bit of a surprise though. There is a bit of history in choosing to bowl first at the Gabba. India also has a bit of history with it. They have not chosen to throw themselves in an overseas test since 2014.

In the first two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the reason why India batted first was clear. In Perth, where the track breaks down as play goes on, uneven bounce comes into play and running becomes difficult in the final laps. Pakistan were bowled out for 89 batting last in 2023. In Adelaide, being a day-night Test, batting first comes with the opportunity to do well and earn the chance to declare in the twilight of day two.

At the Gabba, India completed a hat-trick of successful tosses in this series, bowling first. That’s how teams had won five of the last six Tests here. The only exception was Australia’s day-night match against the West Indies earlier this year, when Shamar Joseph turned into a household name. The Gabba pitch doesn’t deteriorate that badly, so on a day like Saturday, when it was overcast and the pitch had a slight green glow, there was every reason for India to trust that their bowlers could get assistance, and maybe ground. suspecting that their batters might have been struggling.

India have been worried about their batting on this tour, about the pace and bounces on offer and the need to have insurance against that. Therefore, they began the series by giving debuts to Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy. This meant that they had people up to no. 9, capable of scoring some runs if needed, and two weeks ago they certainly thought they needed to.

Then Reddy came good and allowed India to play a bit more with their bowlers, specifically their spinners. Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said they picked R Ashwin for the Adelaide Test because he was the better bowler. They were not too worried about his batting because they were comfortable with Reddy’s output at no. 7.

Jadeja being brought in for Brisbane could suggest they are back to considering their batting depth. Certainly the best source of runs of all their three spinners, he averages 21.78 with the ball in Australia.

Now that India has made their decision, they must be enforced. In what appeared to be an attempt to rectify what happened in the first innings of the pink-ball Test, when Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labsuchagne were allowed to leave the ball relatively easily, it appeared that that India strayed a little bit off the leg with new ball in Brisbane. The first runs came through four leg byes to fine legs.

Since that raucous first day in Perth, India haven’t been able to make the most of the new ball and that’s a problem. Although the Kookaburra is tough and shiny, it reacts off the pitch. It stops doing that once it gets older and softer.

Shubman Gill said the key to batting here is to survive the opening 30 overs. After that, it doesn’t matter how well you bowl, the ball doesn’t react as much outside the pitch. It will be easier to set it up. India allowed Australia to slip away to 19 for 0 in 5.3 overs. Then came the first rainy season. There was an opportunity to regroup.

Between overs 6 and 13.2, India gave away just nine runs and within that period they strung together three consecutive maidens. Akash Deep, who was brought into this game in place of Rana, looked sharp.

The weather is still suspect for tomorrow, but whatever is possible games may take place in cloudy conditions. India will want to maintain the rhythm they settled on after the rain break on Saturday. The new ball is crucial, especially for a team that has won the toss and elected to bowl.