‘Gabbatoir’ holds even greater fears for India after Australia get knives out early in Sydney

India’s reluctance to travel to Brisbane is due to cabin fever from COVID restrictions. But after being battered and bruised in Sydney you can understand the fear of a spicy Gabba deck, too.

India's Ravindra Jadeja avoids a short delivery by Australia's Mitchell Starc on the third day of the third cricket Test match between Australia and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in Sydney on January 9, 2021. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP) / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE --

Only now can we fully understand the true depths of India’s desire not to play in Brisbane.

With Rishabh Pant off to hospital for scans on his aching elbow, Ravi Jadeja nursing a sore thumb and bumps and bruises dotting the entire team, India paid a heavy price for the short balls which came their way by the barrel in the series-shaping third day of Sydney Test.

It must be a chastening thought that whatever they copped in terms of whacks and smacks at the SCG it could be that and more in Brisbane … if they make the trip.

On their last tour to Australia, India refused to play in Brisbane.

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This time they have baulked at heading north because of quarantine issues.

Mohammed Siraj was a lamb to the slaughter in Sydney and could expect more of the same in Brisbane.

For all that the Gabba is still strongly favoured to host the last Test. Other than India taking an early flight home, there appears no other (prepared) option … but with India you never know.

They make very few public policy announcements. The grapevine reveals much of their news and it often comes second and third hand behind cupped hands.

And there is often a gap between what their players and coaches think and what is going on at the head office in Mumbai so the narrative to their journey twists in so many different directions it could hide behind a corkscrew. India’s mystery is part of their charm.

Ravindra Jadeja takes evasive action to avoid part of Australia’s shot ball barrage.

Australia deserved everything that came their way on day three when the game was on the line they were the more desperate, precise team.

None of India’s three run out batsmen even bothered to dive to make their ground.

They were victims of the poise and pinpoint power of fieldsman Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Marnus Labuschagne who arrowed excellent throws which were the result of endless hours of practice.

Australia’s fieldsmen seemed to inspire each other. You could sense a collective vibe lift. By the end of the innings everyone was chasing a run out. Their reflexes became electric.

By contrast, there was no sense any Indian run out made the batsmen who followed them any more desperate or precise with their running.

In bygone eras lumbering fast bowlers used to prowl around at fine leg like grazing buffalo but times have changed and Hazlewood and Cummins are the embodiment of the new standards.

Now there is no place for poor fieldsmen. Just being average is not seen as a pass mark.

Watching the Indians duck and dive and sway and occasionally get hit by the short ball was to be reminded that for all of the practice they have in the nets against it, all of the collective fight they have shown on tour it’s just not their game.

Rishabh Pant is treated after being hit by a ball bowled by Pat Cummins at the SCG.

It is the upside down version of watching Australian batsmen scratch and scramble along in a fish-out-of-water sort of way against spin on dusty decks in Mumbai or Chennai.

For the past seven years India have addressed this part of their play by hiring net bowling specialist Rhagu who hurls balls down at them with a metal “whanger’’ at searing pace from a great height which, they claim, is more ferocious than anything they will face in the middle.

But facing it in the nets is one thing, dealing with it under match conditions is another.

Cummins again was a revelation at the bowling crease. Pace, bounce, accuracy and endurance … he has it all.