Jasprit Bumrah stared at the avo-smash-coloured pitch and sighed. Would it be a green mamba? Or would green be the colour of deceit? Time was when you won the toss in Sydney you had a brief scan of the brownish turf and said We’ll Bat. You made 500, and spent the next few days monitoring the situation and making sure you weren’t batting last. Bumrah having been belatedly restored to the captaincy (Rohit Sharma being “rested” – yeah right whatever you say) he did just that. Why would you not? Perhaps Shubman Gill (replacing Sharma) might finally come good. Well, he didn’t. But that is hardly the captain’s fault.
What has changed the SCG Test is the new Kookaburra ball, which keeps its proud seam far longer than the old one. That, and a new administration in Australian cricket which decrees that cheap runs have been taken off the menu. Nope. Every run you get, you earn. The long-belated debut of Beau Webster also helped. He’s a proper batsman who bowls both seam up and off breaks. His seamers were of gentle medium pace today. But his 13 overs cost just 29 runs, and commanded instant respect. This is absolutely what you require of your fourth seamer/batsman, and Cummins was duly appreciative. Webster made no attempt to bowl fast. He kept a good length and relied on seam movement, and delivering from about ten foot above the grass.
For India, praise is due to Pant and Jadeja. The former has been on the receiving end of an absurd battery of insults. An impartial observer is forced into the position of Oh Give This Man A Break! He is the wicket-keeper. Wiki-batsmen are supposed to be aggressive. He batted well over two hours in Melbourne to try to save the game. Today he was just the same. Shortly after lunch India was 4/72. The top order failed yet again. Pant erected fascines and gabions around his stumps and dug in like a Trojan. For the home side Boland was sublime. He does not get many Test matches, and is determined to enjoy the ones he gets. Starc (unexpectedly selected despite his dodgy back) removed the redoubtable Rahul early. Boland disposed of Jaiswal and Kohli, and Lyon removed Gill on the stroke of lunch.
After the break Pant and Jaddu dug in. It wasn’t pretty to watch, but it was proper Test cricket. No, if you want my wicket, then bring a front-end loader. Batting suicide? Nope. Forget it, aint playing. Until he did, wafting at Boland to Cummins in the midfield. And yet. His 40 was the innings top score. He and Jadeja soaked up thirty-something overs of challenging seam bowling, for 66 hard-earned runs. The only other player to pass 20 was the captain himself, who managed a sprightly 22 as the innings collapsed around him. With a mere three overs to bowl at Australia, Bumrah saw Konstas whip his opening ball to the boundary. With his twelfth and final ball Khawaja edged him to Rahul.
There is more than a hint of 2005 about this Indian side. In the greatest of all Ashes series, Australia sent an ageing side to England hoping for the best, despite the obvious fact that some of them were past their use-by date. They were found out, despite the extraordinary resistance of Shane Warne with bat and ball, who single-handedly defied the fates, the pitches, the English, the press and everything else within sight. Even the towering genius of Warne could not defy the tide of history. Bumrah is hardly in Warne’s class with the bat, but he does his best. With the ball, he works Warne-like miracles. For Australia, top billing goes to Boland. He could not have asked for a more accommodating pitch, and 4/31 from 20 overs was no more than his due.