Test 4, day two: Morning session
Smith gets his ton; India under the pump
Bowling to Steven Smith must be akin to having to bowl to your eccentric uncle in the backyard.
A Bumrah delivery that beat his outside edge drew an audible 'Well bowled' from the batter who then wandered off to mime various possible responses he could have deployed against that delivery. The next ball, also flashing past the outside edge, drew an equally audible 'Oooo'.
Beneath all the madness though, there was method: a pronounced forward and across movement that took him to the fourth stump and largely took LBW out of the equation; bat always in front of the pad, also negating LBW and providing a second line of defense in case the ball took the edge.
An aesthete would likely wince in disgust, as would bowlers in exasperation -- but what mattered was that Smith continued where he had left off, accumulating runs through nudges, nurdles, and the odd emphatic shot, the best of the lot being a controlled hook at a short ball from Bumrah that fetched him six to fine leg. (In the second hour, Smith punished the excitable but largely ineffective Siraj with a hooked six off a misdirected bouncer).
That he would get to his 11th century against India, and 34th overall, seemed almost inevitable. He did, early in the second hour, and celebrated with that hooked six off Siraj and a follow up in the form of a crashing cover drive off the increasingly frustrated bowler.
Once he crossed the century mark, there was a sea change — the eccentricities went into cold storage, the footwork became more aggressive, and the strokeplay imperious.
At the other end, Pat Cummins was occasionally beaten, but he shrugged those off, kept his focus, and continued to accumulate, rolling the strike over and playing the odd firm stroke when opportunity offered.
Opportunity was on offer, in generous measure. Needing to own the first hour of play, the Indian bowlers wasted the five-overs-old ball with a mixture of wayward lines, scattershot lengths, and a seeming inability to bowl to their fields.
Mohammed Siraj bowled an opening over so anodyne that he was promptly replaced by Bumrah. At the other end, Akash Deep was so up and down, with modest pace and minimal to no movement, that batsmen could trust the first line and play their shots. A measure of how badly things went for the tourists is the fact that Nitish Kumar Reddy got a bowl towards the back end of the crucial first hour, which produced 70 runs in 14 overs.
Before play began, the Indians were seen in a huddle, listening intently to animated speeches by first Rohit Sharma, then Virat Kohli. That animation didn't carry on into the field of play, though -- if the bowling was, with the exception of Bumrah, ordinary, the field placement was an exercise in hedging bets. Despite the advantage of a ball just five overs old, India went with two slips and a gully -- and first Cummins, then Smith, took fours through the third slip region in the first three overs and eased any early pressure the Indians may have hoped to apply. And once the two not out batsmen got going, the inevitable in-out field Rohit Sharma set meant that singles were there for the taking on both sides of the wicket, at will.
Net net, the Indian effort with the ball and in the field was low-energy -- and the Australians crashed in, powering their way to, and then beyond, the 400 mark.
When India finally broke through, it was not due to any remarkable bowling, but to the Aussie intent to accelerate once Smith crossed the century mark. Cummins lofted Jadeja over the top, aiming for the on-side, but ended up slicing to cover where Nitish Kumar Reddy took an excellent running catch.
The damage had been done, though. Cummins scored 49 off 63 balls and, more pertinently, combined with Smith to put on the biggest partnership of the Australian innings -- 112 off just 135 balls, the rate of scoring a testament to the inefficacy of the Indian bowling attack.
A measure of which team had the wind in its sails was offered when Bumrah came back for a spell just before lunch — and Mitchell Starc launched the second ball he faced, a length delivery on off, high over the long on boundary for the fourth six Bumrah has conceded in this innings.
Australia went in to lunch on 454/7, with Smith unbeaten on 139 and Starc batting 15 in a partnership already worth 43. The session produced 143 runs in 27 overs for the loss of Cummins — and it is worth noting that the morning session of day one, watermarked by the Sam Konstas blitz, produced only 112.
If the morning session was make or break for both sides, the best summation is that Australia piled up runs and, in doing that, broke any hope India had of crashing through. Before play began, all three results were possible — by the end of the morning session, an India win has been ruled out, and the best the visitors can hope to do is dig deep and eke out a draw.
PostScript: Match referee Andy Pycroft deemed that Virat Kohli was guilty of a Level 1 offense when he deliberately shoulder charged debutant Sam Konstas yesterday morning. That entailed a fine and a demerit point. Kohli accepted the verdict without contestation -- and, I'd suspect, with considerable internal relief because what his attempt at physical intimidation was, if the law had been strictly applied, a Level 2 offence that would have entailed two demerits, causing him to miss the crucial fifth Test in Sydney.
The long shadow of the cash-rich BCCI likely saved him from the punishment he deserved. Noticeably, even before play ended on day one, various BCCI apologists like Boria Mazumdar had trotted out a concerted defense of the player, all of it duly amplified by social media.
The preferred defense seemed to be on the lines of 'who is Ricky Ponting (insert alternate name here) to comment on Kohli's action when he has been guilty of worse?'
It's the 'who gets to cast the first stone?' defense -- my behavior is bad but that is okay because you have done worse?
For the ACB, an India tour is the most lucrative gig going, and no one is going to rock that boat by acting against an Indian star and risking the wrath of the BCCI. And I suspect the players know it.
PPS: For Playbook, I wrote about the retirement of Ravichandran Ashwin
Excellent analysis as always Prem. While Smith was exceptional, loved how Cummins supported him in the highest partnership of the innings so far. Brought back memories of his partnership with Maxwell from the 2023 ODI WC match against Afghanistan albeit in a totally different format and match situation.
Spotted a small typo in the 7th from last paragraph...should read "...in 27 overs..." within "The session produced 143 runs in 27 runs for the loss of Cummins."