Opinion: India missed a trick by not opening the batting with Rishabh Pant in the fourth innings
There are two ways of looking at what transpired in the post-lunch session on the fourth day of the Perth Test. India bowled superbly, and the pitch suddenly looked a lot more venomous than it had looked in the morning session.
When the ninth wicket fell at 207, Australia had a lead of 250 and suddenly everyone was saying that the target for India on this pitch is already too high. But when the last batting pair of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood took the total forward to 243 with a 36 run partnership leaving India with a target of 287 runs, many commented that these two had taken the total beyond India’s grasp.
This view is self-contradictory. Surely, if the pitch were that venomous and as some pointed out, even physically dangerous for batsmen, surely the Australian number ten and eleven batsmen would not have been able to lay bat on ball, forget forging a 36-run partnership.
The fact of the matter is Indian pacers, especially Shami and Bumrah bowled exceptionally well. The pitch, of course, helped their cause, but the pitch condition is nowhere as bad as the commentators made it out to be, as was amply demonstrated by the Aussie last wicket partnership.
Indian batsmen need to be positive in their approach and stop worrying about the pitch. Using the heavy roller before the innings would also take out some of the spice from the pitch, and India could make use of those good conditions to bat on. The match is suddenly not beyond India’s grasp.
However, being excessively defensive is not going to help on this pitch. On a pitch like this, India should have sent someone like Rishabh Pant in place of either Vijay or Rahul, who are both low on confidence. On his current form, it was not a surprise to see the latter getting out cheaply once again. The pitch had nothing to do with his dismissal.
But Pujara’s dismissal shows that just occupying the crease is not a wise approach here. By not sending out Pant to open, India may have missed a trick. He could not have done much worse than Rahul. And if he had succeeded in scoring a quick-fire cameo, that could have set the ball rolling for India.