Set a target of only 200, there was a touch of flippancy, even an air of arrogance in the shots that Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer played. Kishan drove loosely to nick off and Shreyas chipped straight to cover. Sandwiched between the two, Rohit got one from Josh Hazlewood that nipped back in a touch and was trapped in front of his stumps, something he is vulnerable to early in his innings. For the first time in ODIs, three of India’s top four had been dismissed for ducks.
When Virat Kohli, slightly jumpy on the crease and in between, playing some trademark shots, popped a short-arm jab straight up in the air, 32,531 people at the MA Chidambaram Stadium held their breath. Mitchell Marsh charged in, dove and got his hands to the ball but could not hold on. This reprieve seemed to focus Kohli and though he restricted himself in the range of shots he usually plays, he began to get more and more assured.
Kohli was helped along immensely by KL Rahul, who managed to get the scoreboard moving. Although Rahul’s method appeared fraught with risk as he constantly tried to cut the ball off his stumps, it paid dividends as leg spinner Adam Zampa was not allowed to settle. On a hot and humid evening, the two took their time, initially just looking for the singles, something they could jolly well do given that they only needed to score at four an over.
But, Rahul got hold of Zampa in the 19th over of the innings. First, he sent a rocket past the short third fielder and then opened the blade to slant a googly down to the third-man fence. Finally, a rattle Zampa sent down a full toss and this was punched magnificently through cover to cap off a 13-run over. K o h l i c h a n g e d gears, playing some authoritative shots, the checked flick through midwicket, the deft touch through cover and even the square drive. Kohli looked on course for a century when he pulled Hazlewood to midwicket to depart for 85, having added 165 with Rahul. This was merely a blip though, as India only needed a further 33 runs at this stage. Rahul could not make it to three figures as he ran out of runs to score, being unbeaten on 97 when India got across the line by six wickets.
If the chase required two batsmen to lift their game, the bowling phase earlier in the day was far from a walk in the park. David Warner had set himself up well after an early wicket and Australia made their way to a comfortable 74 for 1. It was then that Warner made a simple mistake, popping a return catch to Kuldeep Yadav. Then came a terror phase in which Ravindra Jadeja showed his bag of tricks. In the space of 11 deliveries and 10 runs, Jadeja picked up three big wickets.
Poor Steve Smith got a peach, a ball delivered from slightly wide of crease coming in with the arm and then pitching and going gun-barrel straight to trigger the off pole. Smith looked well set on 46, but there was little he could do about that ball. Marcus Labuschagne erred, sweeping at a ball that went straight, only to get a thin top edge to the keeper and Alex Carey’s defensive push was beaten by a ball that turned a touch. If you did not watch this game closely and only glanced at the scores the day after, you might be forgiven for thinking the surface offered too much to spinners.
But, in reality, aside from Smith’s wicket, none of the six that fell to slow bowling had much to do with the pitch or even the deliveries that preceded them. Batsmen chose the wrong shots at the wrong time to an accurate bowler and natural variation did the rest. As Rahul and Kohli showed, even with the ball doing a bit under lights, it was possible to put on big runs on this pitch. India kept Australia down to 199 because their bowlers used their skills to the best effect. And then, when it was crunch time, two gun batsmen got the job done
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