How India’s captain became a walking wicket

Steve Smith and Virat Kohli are raging against the dying of the light. Pat Cummins and Jasprit Bumrah are the light, while Rohit Sharma’s is out altogether.

The youngest player from each side may have set their teams up, but there’s a Boxing Day Test tale to be told for the five past or present captains.

India have three captains, but the one who is actually in the job (Rohit) is stuck in an awful loop. The hosts have two, in Smith and Cummins, who could not have done much more this game to return the Border-Gavaskar Trophy back to their country.

Rohit Sharma trudges off after an ugly dismissal.Credit: AP

Smith and Kohli are the two all-time greats on whose shoulders so much of their team’s fortunes have ridden on for much of their careers.

Smith was staring Father Time in the face but has taken fans down memory lane to a time when centuries represented normal transmission, rather than the exception. Not since 2017, when Smith was at the peak of his powers, has he scored hundreds in back-to-back Tests against India.

There are few things more wholesome in sport than the champion who succeeds because he will not accept the end.

Smith’s success this summer can only endear him to those hard-nosed fans who cannot look past the events of Cape Town, in a similar manner to how many Australians warmed to tennis great Lleyton Hewitt late in his career when it was clear his main motivation was his love of the game.

As a leader, Cummins does not actively seek the limelight, but he is a competitor who recognises the moment. His came with the final ball before tea when, against the flow of play, he produced a gem to remove K.L. Rahul, India’s most consistent batter this series.

The delivery, which straightened off the pitch, was up there with his famous ball to Joe Root in the 2019 Old Trafford Test, which Australia won to retain the urn.

Cummins also kept a cool head when Yashasvi Jaiswal and Kohli lost theirs, calmly throwing the ball on the bounce for Alex Carey to run out Jaiswal. On top of a handy 49 with the bat, this was a fine day for the captain, perhaps a series-defining one.

India are on the rack, needing to muster all the resilience from their miracle four years ago to avoid defeat in Melbourne. Until about 30 minutes before stumps, their batters looked right up for the fight.

Jaiswal’s dismissal, for 82, was the turning point. The 22-year-old did not look like getting out until his horror mix-up with Kohli left both at the same end.

Whether Kohli was at fault, the blunder had a profound effect on his mindset. For two hours, Kohli had been in command of both the bowling and the conditions.

His plan was simple. His discipline to leave forced Australia’s bowlers to bowl closer to him, allowing Kohli to attack on his terms. He drove straighter, aiming more down the ground than through the inviting and expansive gap between mid-off and the second of two gullies.

But minutes after Jaiswal’s exit, Kohli, on 36 and with no apparent threat, sparred away from his body to one outside off and was caught behind the wicket for the fifth time this series.

Rohit is in worse shape. Back to his preferred spot at the top, at the expense of Shubman Gill, his dismissal was branded as “lazy” by Ricky Ponting. With scores of three, 10, six and three, Rohit has become a walking wicket.

Coincidence or not, this series has turned since Rohit took the captain’s blazer from Jasprit Bumrah, who remains India’s most likely, if not only, avenue to victory. Their best player handed over to their worst performed.

Australian teams relish targeting a stricken opposing captain, and in Rohit they have been delivered an easy win.

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