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Shortly after Virat Kohli had skied an innocuous looking Nathan Lyon delivery and holed out to Mitchell Marsh at deep mid-wicket, excruciating memories of a famous test match loss (if you can call it famous) came rushing back. At Chepauk in 1999, while chasing 271 against Pakistan, Sachin Tendulkar had found himself in a similar predicament. Tendulkar, battling severe back spasms, took India perilously close to victory. After keeping out Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis for more than 400 deliveries and making a gutsy 136, Tendulkar lost focus. He failed to pick a Saqlain Mushtaq doosra,getting a leading edge that Akram gleefully accepted while running halfway back to the cover fence. Tendulkar, acccording to his teammates, did not come out for the post-match presentation ceremony because he was crying in the dressing room.
Kohli wasn’t exactly crying after India’s narrow loss to Australia in Adelaide. He came out and was his eloquent self at the presentation ceremony. But the despondency was all too apparent. The match was over well before Brad Haddin dislodged the stumps of a bemused Ishant Sharma and put the finishing touches to a win that was inevitable. The moment Kohli lost his wicket after a valiant 141, the die was cast. The outcome was never in doubt. India had blown it.
Set a target of 364, half an hour post tea and there was only one team winning the test match. Murali Vijay was batting like a man who had just embraced Zen Buddhism and Kohli, as usual, was in his element, enthralling the crowd with eye-popping stroke play. Then all of a sudden, Vijay's concentration wavered and he was trapped in front by Lyon for 99. Ajinkya Rahane followed suit and fell to Lyon in the same over, thanks to some catastrophic umpiring by Marais Erasmaus. Then Rohit Sharma showed the world yet again why he will forever be tagged as someone who is just “talented”. After spending a good half hour at the crease poking at deliveries outside his off stump, and hopelessly trying to sweep Lyon on a pitch that was behaving less like the Adelaide Oval and more like a fifth day minefield at the Wankhede Stadium, Sharma made his exit. We might get lucky and see Sharma’s “talent” in the next match.
So how do you lose a test match that you’re firmly in control of? Well, you don’t. Keeping out the Australians on a fifth day wicket that was deteriorating rapidly was always going to be difficult. However, Vijay and Kohli made the wicket look easy once they got in. Kohli, in particular, made scoring look effortless. The lack of application has been India's major problem on foreign tours over the last couple of years. This time was no different. Vijay and Kohli’s exceptional work was undone in a matter of minutes, as the rest folded up putting up no resistance whatsoever. Only Wriddhiman Saha knows why he swung wildly on the final ball of a over that had yielded 15 runs, when saving the match should have been his first priority. Why Karn Sharma -- who came into this match having a decent reputation with the bat – struggled to put bat to ball when his team needed it the most is another mystery that will take some solving.
From the attraction of a handsome test win to another insipid loss away from home – India’s descent at Adelaide was swift and disquieting at the same time. But Kohli must take heart from the way India fought and came so close to victory in a match that was dominated by Australia for the most part. So where does India go from here? Kohli, for starters must get his team selection right. The Indian pace battery was far from imposing in Adelaide. Varun Aaron bowled quick, but was too wayward at times. Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami failed to pick up early wickets and gave away far too many runs. And India’s decision to play a rookie like Karn Sharma in the first test match of an important foreign tour was puzzling. Ravichandran Ashwin’s experience would have come in handy on a pitch that was turning square on days four and five. Moreover, his batting skills may have aided the team in chasing down the target set by Australia.
Players in the Indian dressing room have to start taking responsibility. Mahendra Singh Dhoni coming back for the second match will help. Throwing away a test match from a winning position is not the ideal way to start, but hopefully Brisbane will throw up something better.
