Terrific last two overs from Mohammed Shami and Harshal Patel, and two outstanding pieces of fielding acrobatics from Virat Kohli, helped India overcome Australia by six runs in what had appeared a lost cause after 38 overs in their T20 World Cup warm-up game in Brisbane. With one more practice game left against New Zealand, at The Gabba again, on Wednesday before India meet Pakistan in their T20 World Cup opener on Sunday in Melbourne, we take a look at some of the takeaways from the Australia match.
Super Shami steals show
The choice of Mohammed Shami, first as a reserve and then as Jasprit Bumrah’s replacement, has certainly divided opinion. The last over of Monday’s game was Shami’s first over in a match in three months, and he is still to play a T20I since last year’s World Cup. With some help from Virat Kohli in the deep, he grabbed three wickets in four balls to steal the game for India.
“Honestly, he is coming back after a long time. So we just wanted to give him an over. This was always the plan from the beginning – he comes and bowls at the death,” captain Rohit Sharma said after the game. “We know how lethal he can be with the new ball. We just wanted to give him a little bit of a challenge, coming and bowling that death over and we saw what it was.”
Rohit would also talk about the importance of bowling the hard lengths in Australia, but five of Shami’s six deliveries were pitched right up, including the yorkers that bowled Josh Inglis and Kane Richardson. It is a ploy fraught with risk – Pat Cummins’ strike would have sailed over long-on but for Kohli’s leap – but when Shami gets it right in the blockhole, it is a treat to watch. Even the change-up hard-length delivery to Ashton Agar was sharp and climbed steeply. Shami is vastly experienced in Australian conditions, and there could have been no better way to kickstart his comeback.
Kohli’s gun fielding
In Ravindra Jadeja’s absence, Kohli is the best fielder in this India squad. His run-out of Tim David in the 19th over, hitting the stumps after throwing off-balance, kept India alive in the game. And his spectacular, jumping, one-handed catch of Cummins on the long-on rope brought them back from the dead. It may be hard for others to replicate his intensity in the middle, but such moments of inspired fielding are critical in a crunched format. India will need more of these if they are to go deep in the T20 World Cup on these outfields, where it is so difficult for the deep fielders to prevent a tap-and-two.
Rahul, Suryakumar among runs
KL Rahul has now made 51 not out, 57, 74 and 57 in his last four outings, enough evidence that he’s regained his rhythm since his comeback in August. On Monday, he made 50 off 27 in India’s emphatic Powerplay start of 69 for 0. The Powerplay is probably even more crucial in Australia, where five deep fielders on the larger outfields can make boundary-scoring that much harder after the first six overs. Rahul hit a six each in the third, fourth and fifth overs, in the arc from deep backward square leg on the shorter boundary to the far sightscreen.
While targeting the shorter side is the norm, the difference can prove to be starker in Australia given the sheer size of the grounds; Rohit mentioned later that the boundary sizes on either side had differed in Perth as well, and India are getting good practice on such outfields.
The in-form Suryakumar Yadav then lasted midway into the last over, and dragged India past 180. “That’s something that we have been talking about. We want the set batter to bat as long as possible and till the end, which Surya did to some extent,” Rohit said. And India’s thin lower order almost necessitates that.
Harder to clear the field
Rohit and Dinesh Karthik seemed to have slogged the ball cleanly but were taken close to the deep midwicket rope. Virat Kohli top-edged a hook to a Mitchell Starc bouncer and fell at fine leg. In all three cases, the ball would have cleared the boundary on most Indian grounds. It is something India will be well aware of, but executing bigger hits, when you aren’t used to needing that much distance on your strokes, won’t be straightforward.
Rohit spoke about the importance of running between the wickets in these conditions. “You have to be smart when you plan your batting on grounds like these. Hitting boundaries and sixes, of course, sounds nice, but you cannot forget pushing the ball in the gap, running between the wickets really hard and trying to get eight-nine runs in an over… a quite safe plan to have and it’s something we have been talking about,” Rohit said.
India didn’t lose out to Australia on that front, running 14 twos as against the hosts’ nine twos and three threes. And they hit eight sixes compared to Australia’s six.
The length to bowl
All said and done, Australia had required just 16 off 12 with six wickets remaining. After the ease with which Australia had got to the stage, Rohit felt there was scope for improvement in India’s bowling, especially in consistently hitting their desired lengths. Putting Cummins’ wicket down to Kohli, of the remaining six batsmen Australia lost to pace, three went to pitched-up lengths and three to pulled-back lengths.
“I am sure we are on it but I want to see more consistency in terms of where you want to pitch the ball. You know, when you play back home and when you play in Australian conditions, you have to change your tactics, change your lengths a little bit. Sometimes, keeping it simple and hitting the ball hard on the deck will be a good option.”
But just like Shami in the last over, even Harshal Patel’s penultimate over, which went for just five, contained full lengths throughout, including the superb dipping slower one that bowled Aaron Finch.
