Panic and fear tend to strike in unison when three of the top-four batsmen are back in the pavilion with just 11 on the board. More so when the home team wins the toss and elects to bat first. But this Indian team knows no fears. What it knows well is to keep pushing, keep fighting adversity, until you are back on your feet, ready to counter-attack.
In the first ODI at Chennai, India showed intent to first post 281/7 and secured a 26-run (D/L method) win despite the match being reduced to just 21 overs with Australia set a revised target of 164 to get.
After Hardik Pandya's 83-run blitzkrieg off 66 balls and MS Dhoni's measured and immensely vital 79 from 88 balls took India to a commendable total, the bowlers upped the pressure with Bhuvneshwar Kumar hitting the mark from the very first over. Together Bhuvneshwar and Jasprit Bumrah bowled eight overs for 45 runs and picked two wickets. Hardik then returned to torment the Aussies again as he sent back captain Steve Smith for just 1 and Travis Head, their new No. 4 batsman, for only five runs.
India’s wrist spinners - Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal - then took over and the two made the visitors dance to their tunes. Barring Glenn Maxwell, the Australian batsmen struggled.
Like he did in his maiden Test, Kuldeep removed David Warner, who edged to MS Dhoni behind the stumps. Chahal complemented his partner by dismissing the dangerous Glenn Maxwell, who had previously hit Kuldeep for three sixes in an over. Chahal also removed Matthew Wade and Pat Cummins to register figures of 5-0-30-3.
What stood out was the confidence with which the two spinners bowled. Chahal attributed it to the freedom from the team management and the support from Virat Kohli. “Wrist spinners are mostly attacking and when your captain is so attacking, you get more freedom to attack,” said Chahal after the match.
The leg-spinner said he felt no pressure despite the match being curtailed to 21 overs. “There was no pressure as such. We don’t think a lot about what’s happening. We go by the nature of the wicket and since both of us are attacking, we go for wickets.”
Why Dhoni has a sharp cricket brain and why he is an astute reader of the game was once again witnessed on Sunday night at Chepauk. Not only did the Indian veteran guide the two spinners regularly, he plotted Glenn Maxwell’s dismissal. On the stump microphone, he was heard telling the two to bowl wide of the off to Maxwell inviting him to lean more into his shot, which would lead to him miscuing a slog.
Chahal did exactly that as he bowled the third and fourth deliveries of the 12th over outside off, got hit for a six on the fifth when he bowled full on the leg, but returned to outside off line on the sixth. With his hitting arc nullified, Maxwell lost his position, trying to clobber the ball as it only reached the waiting hands of Manish Pandey at long on. The wicket called for a celebration from Chahal and Dhoni flashed his trademark smile.
“I've bowled a lot to Maxwell in IPL so I was confident," said Chahal. “My plus point is that Kuldeep's ball comes into the batsmen, and mine goes out. Mahi bhai and Virat told me to bowl the one that turns and keep checking his feet. My idea was to bowl a little wide to him and from there if he hits a good shot, then it is fine.
“The plan was to get it to spin, but change the line. We kept bowling wide outside off-stump, so if he had to hit, he would have to hit on the offside because he is strong on the leg side.”
