Awful Aussies drop their heads

It was a dark and stormy day for the Australians as India pulled off a miraculous revival in a shocker on the second day at the MCG. And the weather wasn’t great either.

Australia's Travis Head drops a catch from Indian captain Ajinkya Rahane as teammate Cameron Green looks at the MCG

Modern Christianity does not seem so impressed by notions of the meek inheriting the earth, nor does modern sport, so it was a surprise then to see Ajinkya Rahane come into such success at the MCG.

The acting Indian captain — who is presumably not a Christian — is a quiet man who goes about his work with humility, but his magnificent hundred on the second day was just reward for a man who has led his team into a strong position in the second Test.

Rahane finished on 104 not out, his side 82 runs in front on 277 with five wickets in hand and the home side in all sorts.

It was a dark and stormy day for the Australians at the MCG — the weather wasn’t great either. Nothing summed up the home side’s efforts and the change in fortunes since the first Test in Adelaide better than two dropped catches in the last session.

Australia's Travis Head grasses the easy chance from Ajinkya Rahane

The first happened just before drinks. Mitchell Starc had just taken the new ball and Rahane was taking the game away from Australia when he slashed at a wide, full delivery.

It flew to the normally reliable Steve Smith, who could only manage to push it over the bar like a goalkeeper.

It was the fourth catch put down in the innings, but they weren’t done yet.

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The fifth went down as a fierce wind picked up and blew rubbish across the ground. Starc was the unlucky bowler, again. Rahane the fortunate batsman.

The Indian popped a short ball up on the off side drawing Travis Head and Cameron Green towards the drop point. Head dived forward and clutched the ball and Green leapt over him as the same ball jarred from the fielder’s grip.

As the Australians absorbed what had happened, rain began to pelt down and the umpires led the side from the field. Paine’s men looked to have run out of ideas and to be running out of patience some time before the second new ball was taken and looked even more frustrated after that.

“Our last ball (Head’s drop) pretty much sums up our day,” Starc said. “We probably could’ve got (Rahane) out three or four or maybe five times before he got to 100. But he’s run his luck there and scored 100.”

Starc warned there were plenty of runs left in a match that India already controls.

“Once the ball got a bit softer the wicket’s pretty placid,” Starc said.

“By the end of today there’s not too many demons in it anymore. I think that’s typical Melbourne. It flattens out and even with that extra bit of grass to what we’re normally used to here it’s become a pretty flat wicket.

“It’s important for us now when we get the chance to bat again to bat big and to bat us into the game again.”

Pete and Gideon see Australia facing an uphill battle in the second Test after Ajinkya Rahane’s classy century and a lacklustre day in the field. Also, Gideon reveals his first foray into journalism and gets to meet his hero. LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE

The message in the Australian camp had been about “winning after winning”, both Justin Langer and Paine mentioned it before the game. It wouldn’t seem such a hard thing to do, but the very fact it is identified as a goal suggests it is an issue. And so it proved.

Having ridden into town high on confidence after their efforts in Adelaide, Paine’s side presented themselves ragged and rising to worse as proceedings progressed.

An Indian batting line-up hapless when last sighted had recreated itself through the addition of fresh troops and reasserted itself.

Coach Ravi Shastri had dismissed a bad day in Adelaide with a shrug. Crap happens, he said. Reports from the nets had him channelling the famous “Don’t think. Do!” address of Hawthorn football coach John Kennedy when he noted his charges complicating things in the nets this week.

“Stop thinking now, just play,” Indian journalist Bharat Sandarasen reported hearing Shastri say in Hindi.

Unscarred by experience, Shubman Gill did just that on debut with a brisk 45 at the top of the order. It is hard to imagine the man he replaced, Prithvi Shaw, approaching this match with any such freedom after his horrid fielding and batting in the previous match.

Rishabh Pant, brought in for Wriddhiman Saha, only made 29 but his 50-run partnership with acting captain Rahane came at a brisk pace in a slow moving series and was important in the context of the game.

Rahane is standing in for Virat Kohli and has proved himself more than an adequate replacement. The growing chorus of Kohli critics will leap on his replacement’s efforts here and while the attacks on the brilliant Indian are mostly petty it is tempting not to detect some change in attitude among the players in his absence.

Kohli leads by example and expects his men to live up to his own exacting standards. God help those caught in his glare.

There is a cause to speculate that they felt more comfortable around the quiet-natured Rahane.

The 32-year-old who comes from a small town outside Pune made his debut against Australia in 2013. It was the game Shane Watson captained after his return from detention for not completing his homework.

He was astute in his use of the bowlers and placement of fielders on the first day and determined with his batting on the second.