Tag: mcg

It has been 10 years since Australia last beat India in a Test series, home or away.

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That series, which Australia took out 2-0 but was relatively close throughout, saw the first official bat-off between two men who would dominate Test cricket for the next decade.

Both Steve Smith and Virat Kohli each made four centuries in that four-Test series. A 26-year-old Kohli finished up with 692 runs at an average of 86.50, while 25-year-old Smith incredibly topped that with 769 runs at 128.16.

That series came just as Joe Root and Kane Williamson were beginning their ascents too, and it had the very tangible feeling of the start of something.

Ten years on and those same two men, Steve Smith and Virat Kohli, are fronting up on the other side of their imperious decades no less essential.

At the MCG in December of 2024, as eyes are naturally drawn to the young men at the opposite end of their careers, Smith and Kohli still hold their country’s fate in their hands.

If this Test might end up deciding the series, the battle within it between Smith and Kohli might end up deciding the match.

And on day two, one rose to the occasion and the other spectacularly imploded.

In the space of about six manic minutes late in the afternoon session, Kohli took all of India’s previous good work and set it on fire, promptly handing Australia back its advantage just when the hosts were starting to wobble.

First there was a run-out, entirely out of the blue as these things often are.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, on 82 and in total command of the Australian attack, hit a ball hard to Pat Cummins at mid-on and immediately set off for a single.

Kohli saw Jaiswal coming but was caught on his heels, promptly turning around to examine the merits of Jaiswal’s decision before looking back to see his partner was already coming.

In that split second, Kohli made the decision that he didn’t think he could get through for a single safely. Whether his assessment was correct — and it wouldn’t have mattered, as Cummins’s throw missed the stumps anyway — it wasn’t his call to make.

It was his job to be backing up and ready for Jaiswal’s call to run, but instead he overruled him and thoroughly barbecued him.

That moment flipped the entire match on its head, and clearly got into Kohli’s. In a textbook case of self-rattling, within minutes Kohli had played the exact nibbling shot outside off stump he had fought all day to avoid and was out caught behind.

Kohli and drama are never far removed. Sometimes he actively seeks it out, as was the case on day one with Sam Konstas, but often his combustible nature means he can’t help but cause the odd explosion.

The chaos of Kohli stood in stark contrast to the calming presence of Smith through the morning session as he professionally set the game up for Australia.

Smith had the advantage of being able to play his hand first, and with a quite sublime sequel to his Brisbane breakthrough made the absolute most of the opportunity.

If at the Gabba Smith was first made to scrap to rediscover his touch, at the MCG it seemed to come as naturally as it did in 2014.

That was the thing about Peak Smudge that often can be forgotten — just how easy and routine he made batting look, even if he did it in an aesthetically unorthodox way.

He had strolled past 50 on day one, then came back out with Pat Cummins on day two and casually clipped off the rest of the runs required for his 34th Test ton. The inevitability of it all was very familiar, terrifyingly so for India.

It was critical for Australia that Smith finish the job in the way that he did, as a strong start to the opening day had waned by the close of play. Had Smith joined the rest of the top four in getting to 50 and getting out, India would have been firmly in the ascendancy.

Instead Smith drove his team forward, ably supported by the free-wheeling tail-end, past 450 and into a wonderfully strong position. It is awfully difficult to lose a Test match from there.

The gauntlet was then thrown down to India’s top order, who had to bat their team out of a hole.

Rohit Sharma decided to kick KL Rahul out of his opening position, only to throw his wicket away with as meek a dismissal as the captain could have mustered, half-heartedly chipping Cummins to Scott Boland at midwicket.

Rahul was one delivery away from seeing India through to tea, but was shocked to discover that particular delivery was a Cummins fireball from the depths of hell.

It must be nice for Cummins that his trademark wicket is an utterly unplayable, grotesquely beautiful delivery that kisses the top of the batter’s off stump. Imagine your speciality being literally the best thing in the world. It’s not really fair.

That brought Kohli to the crease, pairing him with the heir apparent in Jaiswal for a decisive partnership. Australia’s conquerors in Perth were together again, and both had a taste for it.

For a few hours Australia must have suffering from some alarming flashbacks, only for Kohli to turn his back on Jaiswal and change the course of the whole affair.

Australia now must wade through Rishabh Pant and India’s revolving door of all-rounders to put itself in a position to win this fourth Test and take a lead in the series. The pitch and conditions are fine for batting but there is momentum on Australia’s side, and India suddenly look prone to meltdown.

If the Australians do go on with it at the MCG, Smith and Kohli’s role in the result will be unignorable. Just as it was 10 years ago, and just as it will forever be as long as they share a field together.