Persistent rain, injury and ill fortune conspired to foil Australian hopes for a quick victory today. But the most crucial reason was India’s resolute batting. Bad luck struck early. On the very first ball of the day Cummins beat Rahul pointless. The ball flew straight into Smith’s breadbasket. And he dropped it. Nobody could believe it, least of all the misfortunate Smudger. The man is one of the best slip fielders ever to play this summer game. He has almost two hundred Test catches, mostly in the slips. And no: his reflexes are still fine. He proved it in the gloaming by taking a blinder at slip off the persevering Lyon.
And yet. His earlier miss was the game’s turning point. With India four down already, and nobody expecting Sharma to stay long (he didn’t), it was absolutely vital to get Jadeja and Reddy batting while the ball still had some life in it. India could have been rolled for 150, and following on: who even knows? An innings victory beckoned. As it was, Rahul stuck around. More than that: he played his shots. After the thirty-fifth over or so conditions had settled into the standard Gabba pattern. Help yourself while you can. And he did. His 84 saved India from innings defeat. And Jaddu? He may not be the world’s best fielder any more. His bowling – so lethal on the subcontinent – is quite unsuited to these hard Antipodean pitches. But he can bat all right.
Australia toiled hard and nobly in the field. Losing Hazlewood to what was described as ‘calf awareness’ was a huge blow. We don’t really know what calf awareness is, and it sounds like a job for a blue heeler; but as a result he is out for the series. Marsh’s bowling proved again a broken reed, although he took two brilliant catches. If enthusiasm were all he would still be worth his place. This left everything on Cummins, who was magnificent throughout; Starc, who was menacing and persevering; and Lyon, who was accurate and probing. But with an old, wet ball, getting batsmen out wasn’t easy. Rahul and Jadeja stuck to their task admirably, and were only denied centuries by two brilliant catches (Smith and Marsh).
When the ninth wicket fell the follow-on was still some distance away. India’s batsmen have not flourished here, by and large. But their bowlers have carried them. Bumrah and Deep assessed the situation and realised that the new ball was 14 overs distant. Plenty of time to knock off the runs. If you pitch up we will drive. If you bowl short we will carry the boundary. It was nothing to them to add 39 off nine overs, and save the follow-on. With conditions all in their favour, why not?
What will happen tomorrow? Who even knows? Captains of old would treat day 5 as batting practice in these circumstances. It may still happen. But we don’t know that. There may yet be a twist in the tale. Doubtless Hazlewood will be replaced by Melbourne’s favourite son Scott Boland. Marsh may possibly give place to Webster. India need to decide if they are going to keep on carrying Sharma and Kohli, and leaving too much to the rest. Given the politics of the BCCI, the odds are still on that. They might even score runs in Melbourne.
Meanwhile across the ditch New Zealand completed their consolation win over England, by a mere 423 runs. The chimaera of the so-called moral victory will be doubtless stricken from English lips. But they are a resilient lot, these English. Before succumbing to Santner’s left-arm tweakers Gus Atkinson belted an amusing 43 as the ship went down. He and Brydon Carse are part of the new wave of English quicks. They will be waiting for us, next Ashes. Bring it on!