Boxing Day Test result: India defeats Australia by eight wickets at MCG
Australia has been urged to find its mean streak to avoid a shock series loss to an Indian side missing skipper Virat Kohli after surrendering inside four days in Melbourne.
Australia's shell-shocked batsmen will be told to dial up the aggression in the third Test as captain Tim Paine pointed out that even Sir Donald Bradman suffered slumps like Steve Smith is in.
Back-to-back failures by the top seven – which also dropped six catches in the field – meant Paine’s attack was required to bowl, bat and catch as the Aussies bombed out in the Boxing Day Test.
“We played pretty poor cricket, pretty sloppy cricket for the majority of the match,” Paine conceded.
With injured opener David Warner batting outside the MCG in the nets instead of in the middle, the Aussies crawled to 200 in the second innings at a run-rate of 1.94 against a walking wounded attack.
The eight-wicket loss to India was the first time the Aussies have completed a home Test without a batsman posting a half-century since the 1988 Boxing Day bout against West Indies.
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Smith’s longest innings in all formats this summer is 64 balls, and the master batsman has admitted to teammates that he has played far too defensively against spin nemesis Ravi Ashwin.
But even Bradman made back-to-back ducks in the 1936-37 Ashes, before pounding 270, 212 and 169 in the same series, and Paine warned Smith would also bounce back.
Opener Matthew Wade will be encouraged to sweep India’s spinners aside while other top-order players will be instructed to start moving their feet – a tactic India’s batsmen have used to blunt Nathan Lyon.
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India became the first touring nation to win consecutive Boxing Day Tests since England in 1982 and 1986.
While Travis Head was the only top-six batsman who played in both 2018 and 2020, both of India’s commanding victories have come on the back of brittle batting performances by Paine's team.
A combined crowd of 89,472 attended the MCG across four days as Victorians watched live sport at their favourite venue for the first time in 293 days.
India captain Ajinkya Rahane – who smacked the winning runs to back up his game-changing century – won the inaugural Mullagh Medal as man of the match.
India entered without captain Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma and lost Umesh Yadav (calf) early in the second innings, only to convert last week’s embarrassing total of 36 into a famous victory.
India will now mull another three changes – tempted to bring in Sharma and KL Rahul – as well as having to replace Yadav.
Opener Mayank Agaral (averaging 7.8 this series) looked all at sea compared to debutant Shubman Gill and will probably be dropped.
That could see four survivors from the Adelaide Oval disaster just two Tests later – Jasprit Bumrah, Ravi Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara and captain Ajinkya Rahane.
Paine was frustrated the “sloppy” Aussies gave Gill and Rahane two costly lives each.
It appeared the skipper brought his cordon slightly closer to the stumps, heightening the difficulty of most chances.
“India are bowling well. They’ve been extremely disciplined (and) we haven’t been able to get partnerships together,” Paine said.
“But from what I’ve seen watching Marnus and Steve Smith in their Test careers this is not the first time teams have targeted their stumps.
“That happens every single Test match.
“These guys (India) are executing it better and someone like Steve in particular just hasn’t been able to get in yet.
“Once he does he’ll find a way as he generally always has and the rest of us will follow suit.
“We need to improve, but these aren’t plans we’re encountering for the first time.”
AUSSIES TAKE A HIT IN THE POCKET
Australia has been slugged with a massive fine and the loss of four World Test Championship points for a slow over-rate against India in the second Test.
The Australians have been fined 40 per cent of their match fees after match referee David Boon declared Tim Paine’s side were two overs short of where they should have been.
Under ICC guidelines, players are fined 20 per cent of their match fee for every over the team fails to bowl in time.
The ICC has also docked Australia of four points on the World Test Championship table, but it’s hard to gauge whether that’s a major blow given administrators changed the rules mid tournament to pick finalists based on percentage of points rather than outright points.
For example, India already leads Australia on points, yet Australia is currently on top in the Test championship because of their superior percentage.
Australian captain Paine pleaded guilty to the charge and accepted the sanction handed down.
Slow over rates were also an issue in the limited overs series earlier this summer, with India punished on that occasion.
■ RECAP DAY FOUR AND ALL THE REACTION IN OUR BLOG BELOW
Originally published as Boxing Day Test result: India defeats Australia by eight wickets at MCG
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