Australia denied in third Test draw after India’s bowlers exposed familiar weaknesses | Australia cricket team

First of all, you have to say “fair play” to Australia to make a game out of it. Losing some time out of day five of the Brisbane Test was already inevitable with the weather forecast. But when most of the first session was lost to lightning and then rain, it seemed that any hope of a contest was also gone. Instead, Australia returned from an early lunch break to smash quick runs, then set India 275 to win in 54 overs. It was a great set up until the rain returned to end the fourth inning just after it had started.

Looking past that audacity, though, it’s hard to shake the feeling that Australia’s second-innings spell of cold weather was a boon for India. Another harvest of wickets for the visiting bowlers and another failure each time was chalked up next to the names of Australia’s specialist batsmen.

You can quote context and Australia want wickets toppled because they threw the bat. Except that compared to what happened on the ground as opposed to the scorecard, it doesn’t scan. While Australia’s top order looked to score off other balls, they followed their form lines in this series when the bounces came.

Usman Khawaja’s fall was from Jasprit Bumrah again, round the wicket again, nailed to him again. In this series, Khawaja has been caught on the bounce, on his toes or in the air while trying to play the ball. Not surprisingly, the player from the ground has less control. Here the chase out of the seam took the ball past his bat to the stumps.

Marnus Labuschagne was out chasing width in Adelaide, and in the first round here. Second innings, same again, doesn’t read new-ball bounce from Bumrah. Nathan McSweeney has struggled as a makeshift opener and looks uncertain about his approach. He was out the same way as Labuschagne and cut the wrong ball. Mitchell Marsh played a half-hearted prod with a straight bat and got it going. And Steve Smith, the last of the first five, did as he has done so often of late, sat up and closed off and edged down the leg side.

It was only after collapsing to 33 for 5 that an attacking approach brought wickets, with Travis Head flailing a short ball up for a catch near gap and Pat Cummins firing up to mid-off. They were on the charge. The rest, not so much. But by then Bumrah had three more wickets. Akash Deep had shrugged off his frustrations in the first innings with two and Siraj also had two. Rishabh Pant had five prisoners in pants. India had to end this match with a good feeling.

Australia, meanwhile, have raised more questions about their batting weaknesses. Khawaja; start there. A couple of good scores last Australian summer between 40 and 90, although he used to take them over a hundred. The last time he did that was at Edgbaston in the first Ashes Test a year and a half ago. From the New Zealand tour last March, 10 innings with a top score of 33. He has said he wants to play another year, but it is his 38th birthday today. Definitely needs to be driven before this series is out. So far he has made 8, 4, 13, 9 not out and 8.

Labuschagne, under scrutiny in Perth, responded with a half-century and a more positive approach in Adelaide But no. 3 in the sequence must be about more than the fifties. Add a score of 1 today to his 2, 3, 64 and 12 in this series.

McSweeney, in the limelight since his debut as a stop-gap contender at the top of the order, fights Bumrah’s early threat as anyone would. Does his best but returns 10, 0, 39, 10 not out, 9 and now 4.

Marsh, picked as an all-rounder, named one by his captain but clearly not fit to bowl as he sent down two overs even after Australia lost Josh Hazlewood to injury. If he can’t do that job, he needs to offer returns with the bat like he did last season. This series: 6, 47, 9, 5, and today a score of 2 when the occasion suited him.

And Smith, a century in the first innings to break a long drought on the metric, and a player with such a body of work behind him. However, even champions are questioned if they keep coming out in the same way. The luck of the game can go against anyone for a period of time, but when your opponent’s plan works far more often than not, the problem is more than just probability.

During Bumrah’s barnstorming spells to open each innings in Perth, it was easy to sympathize with Australia’s top order failing to cope. This round was not. It was a procession of players who came out to bowl that was decent rather than overwhelming. It was uninspired at first and tended to be embarrassing at five down.

Looking ahead to Melbourne at 1-1, this collapse will have done nothing to make these batters feel better and another low score adds to the pressure. That will have put air in the tires of the India bowlers who got them. All that Australia could deny Bumrah was his first 10-wicket Test, the declaration came when the pace bowler had nine in his pocket and ball in hand. Australia, who gave themselves a chance in the game, ended up looking after their opponent. The Test was a draw but the final day was an Indian victory.