Aussies crumble against the original

Pat Cummins a day before the opening Test: “It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be challenging at times but our batters will relish the chance to problem-solve on their feet.”

Three days into the Test at the VCA stadium, Australia are bowled out for 91 runs to lose the game by an innings and 132 runs.

Embarrassing is all one can and will say about Australia’s abject performance to get the Border-Gavaskar Trophy started.

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It was a performance so poor - it was their lowest total in a Test in India, upstaging the 93 at the Wankhede in 2004 - surely even the Indians felt mildly hollow, possibly even some pity for the visitors, in the aftermath. Maybe not R Ashwin though.

The off-spinner toyed with the Australians as a cat would with its prey, and was just as merciless when it came to putting an end to their misery. Ashwin was so good on the day that he didn’t even have to dive into his endless repertoire of tricks, he kept it simple and let the pitch do its bit.

The end result was figures of 5 for 37 from 12 overs. In the grander scheme of things, the off-spinner now sits on 462 Test wickets from 90 Tests.

Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who is no less proficient in the subcontinent by his own standards, ended up with 15 of Australia’s 20 wickets in the game. Arguably the most effective spin tandem in Indian cricket is back at it, and Australia were not ready for it.

This isn’t a case of lack of preparation. In fact, one could make a case for over-preparation and over-analysis. But losing ten wickets in a single session between lunch and tea does bring up a question: is this the worst Australian side to travel to India?

Memories of 2013, when they lost the series 0-4, come flooding, but that side still had more fight to them than this.

Besides this being quite possibly the worst start to a series in India, they don’t look a side capable of surviving these conditions for much longer.

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Frankly, the conditions in Nagpur weren’t all that bad. After all, India did score 400 runs in their first essay on the same ‘doctored’ pitch.

Perhaps it then amplifies the value of Rohit Sharma’s 120 in the first innings, and also knocks from Ravindra Jadeja (70), Axar Patel (84), and Mohammed Shami (37). They all looked at ease while the bowling wasn’t all that easy.

Consider this, Todd Murphy had seven wickets to his name on his debut. Nathan Lyon, on the contrary, had one.

Cummins may have dismissed the possibility of baggage from previous visits to India, but it’s evident that it’s playing a part on the visitors’ minds. A simple pitch-hype exercise was enough to send the Australians into a tizzy.

India, meanwhile, kept it nice and easy. They knew exactly what they had to do, especially Ashwin.

Revving the ball with plenty of side spin, Ashwin worked out the perfect angles to force the lead-footed Aussies into difficult positions. Save for Steven Smith, none of them could handle this level of mastery. They were caught in such awkward positions, it was beginning to look like they were playing another sport.

That’s when you realise, it’s one to play Ashwin in your mind, it’s quite another to play him with only 22 yards separating you and the next delivery.

Extrapolating, Australia were prepared for the idea of India, not the real deal.