The ongoing World Test Championship title match is between India and Australia. It has been two days since the start of this contest, and the Indian team has been under a lot of pressure during these days. On the first day, the Australian players performed exceptionally well with the bat, and on the second day, their bowlers caused a lot of trouble for the Indian batters.
Now we need to observe the mistakes made by the Indian team. There was a noticeable contrast in the batting and bowling performances between the two teams. Moreover, the strategies employed by both captains appeared different. On one side, Rohit Sharma was observed adopting a defensive captaincy approach, while on the other side, Pat Cummins exhibited an aggressive and attacking captaincy style.
Rohit Sharma
Let’s begin by discussing India’s captain, Rohit Sharma. After winning the toss, Rohit Sharma opted to bowl first, taking into account the pitch and weather conditions. Interestingly, Pat Cummins had a similar mindset as he also intended to bowl first after winning the toss.
However, India had a decent start to the match, losing two wickets before lunch and one more after lunch. Initially, Rohit Sharma let the bowlers bowl lengthy spells, and as long as wickets were being taken, there were no doubts about this strategy. However, questions regarding Rohit’s captaincy emerged when Steve Smith and Travis Head settled and started scoring runs.
Pat Cummins
If we turn to Pat Cummins, he appeared different from Rohit Sharma in this aspect. While Rohit let his bowlers’ lengthy spells of 5 to 6 overs, Cummins restricted his fast bowlers to shorter spells of 3 to 4 overs. The notable difference was that Cummins ensured his bowlers could rest sufficiently and maintain their performance.
However, Rohit Sharma relied on the effectiveness of his bowlers through extended spells, minimizing the rotation of bowlers. On the first day, while Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami formed a bowling partnership, Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav formed a bowling partnership. Additionally, Jadeja had a few overs to bowl. However, during the Australian innings, such long spells were not observed.
Pat Cummins began the match by opening the bowling with Mitchell Starc. However, after just two overs, Starc was replaced by Boland, and the bowlers were frequently rotated. This strategy prevented the Indian batters from settling as the bowling attack changed.
On the contrary, Steve Smith and Travis Head settled comfortably against the bowling duo of Rohit Sharma, namely Umesh and Shardul. Australian played cautiously against Shami and Siraj while accumulating runs.Â
Finally
Pat Cummins exhibited an attacking approach right from the beginning, and Rohit Sharma initiated an attacking strategy against Australia on the second day.
However, this change came too late, and unfortunately, it slipped out of the Indian team’s grasp. It remains fascinating to see if Team India can still make a comeback that could alter the course of the match.
