Melbourne: India slumped to a demoralising 184-run loss to Australia in the fourth Test here on Monday with contemporary greats Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli failing to come good yet again, signalling that their walk towards the exit door is not too far.
Chasing a near improbable target of 340, both Rohit (9 off 40 balls) and Kohli (5) failed to battle their technical frailties and mental cobwebs as India lost seven wickets for 34 runs in just 20.4 overs in the final session to be all out for 155 in 79.1 overs.
Australian captain Pat Cummins (3/28 in 18 overs) was superb as usual and Scott Boland was also magnificent (3/39 in 16 overs) in his every spell.
Nathan Lyon (2/37 in 20.1 overs) took advantage of variable bounce while Mitchell Starc (1/25 in 16 overs) got the prized scalp of Kohli.
This was after an 88-run fourth-wicket stand between Yashasvi Jasiwal and Rishabh Pant.
“Pretty disappointing. We wanted to fight but we could not do it,” a dejected Rohit said in the post-match presentation.
“We tried everything but they fought hard. We did not grab our chances,” he conceded.
Australia now lead the series 2-1 and unless India draw level in Sydney, a third successive World Test Championship final could become a distant dream. Even to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India would need to post a win.
Save Jaiswal (84, 208 balls), whose controversial caught-behind in which the third umpire overruled technology to adjudge him out, none of the other batters performed well enough to save the team.
“They batted well in the middle session. We knew that we had to get one breakthrough and anything can happen and that proved to be the case.
“We had plenty of runs to play with, we had plenty of fielders with the helmet around,” a beaming Cummins, who was also adjudged player of the match for his haul of six wickets, said in the presentation ceremony.
The art of saving Test matches has slowly become extinct but India would have depended on their two senior-most players, who are also fighting to save their legacy and reputation built over nearly two decades.
In the case of Rishabh Pant, it was one bad shot too many after a full session in which he concentrated. He got a rank long hop from Travis Head but after a 103-ball vigil, it all came to a naught.
Even Jaiswal’s guts and grit couldn’t prevent a once highly-rated, but currently a trifle over-rated, Indian batting line-up from implosion with over-the-hill seniors and young superstars unable to handle the pressure.
The defeat could have severe repercussions as there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel for skipper Rohit.
As for Kohli, despite all his white-ball exploits, the problems outside the off-stump will stick out like a sore thumb.
For Rohit, his ultra-defensive approach in the opening slot, is causing India to stare down the barrel with alarming regularity.
Rohit did all the hard work during the first hour before opposition skipper Cummins got his bunny for the 10th time in Test matches.
Kohli could never control his urge of playing the cover drive again and was caught at first slip after Mitchell Starc pushed one across with the angle.
Rahul was out without troubling the scorers after getting a second good ball in the game.
Rohit’s decision to bat up the order backfired and it also tinkered with Rahul’s mindset despite him being perfectly fine opening the innings.
The captaincy was pedestrian as he let the game drift on occasions and there were lot of phases that led to India’s defeat but none more telling than the final wicket partnership between Scott Boland and Nathan Lyon where the target went out of reach on Sunday.
Save Jasprit Bumrah, who once again toiled manfully for 50 overs and took nine wickets, and find-of-the-series Nitish Reddy, who scored a gritty hundred, there are no positives to be taken from this defeat.
The batting, save for the second innings in the opening Perth Test, has been absolutely below par and India won’t be doing themselves any favours if they have walking wickets at the top of the order.
The team is going through a tough transition and it is now time that their feisty head coach Gautam Gambhir shows some spark along with chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar.
