After a recent horror run with the bat in the first innings of Test matches over the past three months, India will be keen to arrest the trend when they take on Australia in the third of the five-match Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Brisbane on Saturday.
Locked at 1-1, India arrive at the Gabba with good memories after their heroics at the venue four summers ago allowed them to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. But the road to a third successive series triumph DownUnder hasn’t been a smooth ride for the Indians so far, with their top order failing to put up consistent performances in the first innings, that extends back to their two-Test series against Bangladesh at home in September.
Going by stats, in seven Tests this season, India’s top seven batters have failed to record any centuries and have 10 ducks in their team’s first innings. The only three-figure score from an Indian player in a first innings has come from Ravichandran Ashwin batting at No.8 against Bangladesh. To add to the misery, Virat Kohli has only one first-innings score above 10 in the Tests against Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia, while Rohit Sharma has not reached 25.
“As a team and as a batting group we are looking to post a big total first-up. This has been one of the key discussions. Every batter is going to have his own game plan,” Shubman Gill said at the pre-match press conference on Friday.
“As a batting group, collectively, we are going to try and get a big first-innings score. That is what the discussion has been about,” he reconfirmed.
In fact, Gill has been one of the consistent performers with the bat over that time, and made scores of 31 and 28 on return from a broken thumb in Adelaide last week. Having made his Test debut on India’s previous tour of Australia in 2020-21, Gill’s contribution of 91 in the Gabba Test, in addition to Rishabh Pant’s heroics, was crucial for his side to stun the hosts and claim an upset series victory.
“Definitely (felt) very nostalgic when I came here. Definitely (felt) very nostalgic when I came here,” Gill said.
“It’s about mental intensity. The pitches are fast. You have to be right there on the mental fitness, and play at the same intensity at which you came to the crease at the start,” he noted.
Gill also played down queries of the team being under any pressure following their 10-wicket humiliation in Adelaide, that allowed Australia to square the series.
“The mood of the team is very good. We had a team dinner yesterday, we had a lot of fun at the team dinner. I think it is very important to know that we didn’t play well in the Test match in Adelaide, but still the series is one-all. We have a series of three matches, and if we win this match, then in Melbourne and Sydney, I think we will have an upper hand there,” he hoped.
For Gill, this to-and-fro nature of the contest, with the balance shifting between sides and individuals is what makes a longer series in Test cricket special.
“That is the beauty of playing a long series. There might be a scenario where a bowler might be getting you out three or four times, and if you play the same bowler in the next Test,” Gill said.
“You know certain areas where you’re vulnerable and [areas] where you can get away as a batsman. So that’s the fun of playing a long series. More than skill, there’s a lot of mental tactics involved here.”
Gill also felt that the recent success during the two previous tours Down Under have instilled confidence among the youngsters in the side to believe that the hosts are not unbeatable despite the challenging conditions.
“Pressure? As in we’ve won the last four Test series against Australia. So I don’t know why there should be any pressure on us,” he said before continuing, “It would’ve been something if we hadn’t won there before, but we’ve won on the last two occasions, and even in India. For this generation, we look at the bowlers and the seam position, instead of the reputation of the bowlers.”
The Brisbane Test, starting Saturday, will be followed by two more matches in Melbourne (December 26-30) and Sydney (January 3-7).