Australia vs India 2018-19: 3 things India should change to ensure that they go 2-0 up at Perth
India created history on Monday, the 10th of December 2018, when they defeated Australia in the first Test of the 4-match series. Never before in the history of the India-Australia rivalry has India started a Test series in Australia on a winning note.
With history being made in Adelaide, India will now go to Perth in the hope of going 2-0 up. However, Australia will undoubtedly want to hit back firing at all cylinders, in order to redeem themselves.
Playing without two of their main batsmen, Steve Smith and David Warner, the hosts have a batting lineup that is quite lackluster. Before the start of the series itself, India were termed favorites, and now they have proved why.
In the first Test, India scored 250 in the first innings, with Cheteshwar Pujara being the top-scorer with 123 runs under his belt. The second top scorer was comeback man Rohit Sharma, who scored 37 before throwing his wicket away.
The Indian openers and Virat Kohli together added only 16 runs to the total. Ajinkya Rahane also got out cheaply for 13 runs. It was only down to Pujara, who kept batting till the 9th wicket, to take India to a good total.
Then came the Australian batting. The first blow for them was delivered very quickly, in the first over itself, when Ishant Sharma dislocated the bails behind opener Aaron Finch. The Australian batting card also read much like the Indians, with Travis Head batting till the 9th wicket, scoring 72, while the others kept making small contributions.
In the end, Australia finished their innings 15 runs short of India's total, which meant India came in to bat with a slight advantage.
The second innings for the Indian team was a much better one with a 63-run opening partnership. This time again Pujara topped the scorecard, with 71 runs. However, significant contributions from KL Rahul (44 runs) and Rahane (70 runs) meant that India succeeded in going past the 300 run mark and setting a target of 323 for Australia to win the match.
Australia had a decent start, but were reduced to 101-4 before the end of stumps on Day 4. However, the resilience from the lower order saw the hosts battle it out till almost the very end, losing the match by just 31 runs.
Though India will be on a high when they take the field on Friday, in Perth, here are the three things they must try to improve on to keep the winning momentum intact.
#3. The over-stepping issue
In the final innings of the Test match, Ishant Sharma caught Aaron Finch in front of the wickets. Finch was given out LBW before he reviewed it, only to see that Ishant had over-stepped.
These mistakes can cost India heavily. No-balls are the last mistake a bowler should be allowed, especially in a Test match. And when a wicket is disallowed due to over-stepping, it just goes from bad to worse.
So along with the discipline in line and length, the bowlers also need to keep an eye on the bowling crease, and avoid such mistakes. These no-balls had a negative impact on the otherwise excellent and disciplined bowling performance.