Cricket: Apologetic Australians on ropes

Aaron Finch and an apprehensive Australian team are searching for the right mental setting.

There was no evidence Aaron Finch was out, but he was too polite to review it

Forensic investigation found no proof that Aaron Finch was out caught at bat pad yesterday, but his decision to not call for a review is a strong suggestion that he and an apprehensive Australian team are searching for the right mental setting.

Was it elite humility? Elite honesty? A lack of self-esteem? Or, worse, a defeated mindset?

Finch has form. He opted not to review one in the ODI in Perth that ball tracker showed would have missed the stumps by quite some distance.

Maybe he is just too nice a bloke, but while Australian cricket is calling out for the nice blokes to step up, this was neither the time nor place.

You’ve got to value your wicket a lot more than that. It’s something you owe the team and yourself. Maybe it did hit, maybe the umpire in the eyrie would back the umpire in the field, but you have to ask.

India has the apologetic Australians on the ropes. Their first victory in Australia for a decade is at hand.

They could sense it early, going the hoik when the lead ­approached 300 when most teams would consolidate.

History says this game is lost. Australia has been asked to score more than 300 in the fourth innings on 96 occasions and managed to do it nine times. They drew 30 of those matches and lost 57 of them.

You can be sure the sides that succeeded were a little more experienced and confident than the one that is playing this match.

They need 219 with six wickets in hand going into the last day. And they would have been chasing a hell of a lot more if Nathan Lyon hadn’t taken 6-122. He now has 25 wickets from three tests in Adelaide against India, including 12 last time.

The reality of the situation is Australia’s top six have a sum total of 86 Tests experience between them. And two batsmen — Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja — own 69 of them. India’s batsmen have 311 matches under their belts.

You can’t buy Test experience, you can’t get it in the nets and there are very few who come to the game fully formed.

This Australian side has to play at its very best just to be competitive.

Finch was lucky to get as far as he did yesterday. Ishant Sharma struck him on the pads with just the second delivery of the innings, it was given out LBW and ball tracker confirmed that it was clipping the stumps. Unfortunately for the Indians, it was a no ball.

Australia’s troubles are not limited to the experience and mindset of the batsmen.

Mitchell Starc looks a troubled man. His bowling has drifted from its best, a little like Mitchell Johnson’s in 2009, but the reasons cannot be the same. Johnson wore down from too much cricket, losing his strength and his shape because he couldn’t get time to rest and regenerate.

Starc has had a good rest coming into this game and not played all that much cricket, which might actually be the problem. He’s bowling fast but struggling to get the swing that makes him so effective at his best. Yesterday’s haul of 3-40 was flattering and also his best return since the first Test in South Africa.

He has to play in Perth, but he has to find a way to play before then. Balls flung repeatedly down the leg side just won’t do.

Tim Paine was forced to drag him after two overs with the second new ball yesterday. He was grabbing at his knee and looking sore.

It could be a result of an attempt to lock his front leg or it could be the sort of pain that comes when things aren’t going your way. Starc’s body language can be an issue in such situations.

More can be expected from senior players and you can expect more from the younger ones as well. Marcus Harris appears to have the game to make it as an opening batsman, but twice has let himself down after getting a start.

Marsh got a start yesterday after single digit scores in his past six innings. They were measuring him for a coffin after the first innings, just as they did after the UAE series and a few before that, but he’s refused to lie down. When Marsh gets to double figures he averages 50. It is the sort of stat that has driven a nation of cricket fans to distraction. He’s the Chautauqua of cricket. When he can get out of the barrier he’s a champion, but too often his race is over before he’s emerged from the stalls.

It was clear before a ball had been bowled that the Indian pace attack is the best and fastest it has brought to this country. And it has strength on the bench.

What was not clear, but has become apparent in this game, is that Ravi Ashwin is a whole other prospect these days.

The offspinner got in the heads of the Australian batsmen. Usman Khawaja got bogged down in the first innings, scoring 28 from 125 deliveries. The same happened to a few of his teammates and Justin Langer said they had to find a way to score.

Yesterday, Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah double teamed the left-handed batsman. He tried to charge Ashwin to break the shackles, was lucky not to be stumped the first time and was out the second.

Khawaja attempted to hit the spinner straight, but an outside edge floated up and was gladly received deep on the off side.