Australia's Travis Head and Steve Smith at the end of the first day's play at The Oval. (Photo: Action Images via Reuters) India have picked bowling attack just for the first innings: Ricky Ponting on Ashwin’s omission
An easy choice and a tough one present themselves as the Indian skipper calls it right at the toss at The Oval. The 6mm grass on offer and the cloud cover above makes it harder to resist the urge to bowl first. India opt for just the same. Australia would’ve done it as well. The big question in the lead up to the game however, was if Ravichandran Ashwin would feature in the XI. He doesn’t. India go with Ravindra Jadeja as the sole spin option in the five-man bowling attack also featuring Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav.
Rohit Sharma at the toss: “We have four seamers and one spinner: Ravindra Jadeja. It has always been tough. He (Ashwin) has been such a matchwinner for us for so many years. Leaving him out is not a great occasion but you have to do things needed for the team.”
Ricky Ponting on-air: “India have made a mistake of picking a bowling attack just for the first innings of the game. Australia have many left-handers; Ashwin would trouble the left-handers more than Jadeja. I saw the grass — yes there was grass — but the deeper I looked, it seemed dry to me.”
Coming over the wicket to the left hander, Siraj dishes in that famous wobble seam delivery of his to force Usman Khawaja into playing one around the off stump, only for it to nip slightly away and take an edge on its way to KS Bharat, who hangs on to it. Australia lose their first wicket with just two runs on the board.
Nasser Hussain on-air: “Round the wicket to Warner, over the wicket to Khawaja. India have done their homework.”
Alexandra Hartley on BBC Test Match Special: “Khawaja will be thinking, ‘Did I really need to play that ball?’ He didn’t move his feet, it was a nothing shot and has feathered it behind. He never looked comfortable at the crease. India know how to bowl at him.”
Marnus Labuschagne stands well outside his crease. This, to negate the seam on offer. An age-old counter attempted by batters to not allow the ball more airtime. Mohammed Siraj’s cracking bouncer — that hits him on the thumb — pushes him back momentarily. Lucky for him, the attacking guard helps him survive two leg before wicket appeals. The first one, an umpire’s call charm, swinging down leg and clipping the top of leg stump. The other – looks close with the naked eye – but is bouncing past the leg stump. Shardul Thakur is the bowler on both occasions.
Matthew Hayden on-air: “Sanga, have you played monopoly? The game? The way Labuschagne is playing, he would’ve bought himself two ‘get out of jail free’ cards with his batting out of the crease. It’s got him away with not one but two lbw appeals now.”
Shami comes over the wicket and pitches an absolute jaffa. He had struggled to pitch the ball up in the first session. Sourav Ganguly at Star Sports felt it may have something to do with bowlers still accustomed to their IPL lengths, which were slightly shorter owing to the conditions on offer back home as well as the demands of a shorter format. Not this time though. His first ball of the new session, pitched right up — fullest he’s bowled to Marnus Labuschagne all match — fractionally short of being a half volley. Labuschagne can’t resist the urge of driving it through the covers. Ends up missing it altogether as it crashes into his off stump after nipping in sharply.
Dinesh Karthik on-air: “Over a period of time, the ball coming in has been the Achilles heel for Marnus Labuschagne. He’s countered that by coming out of his crease. But when a bowler like Shami bowls a ripper like that, there’s not much he can do.”
Travis Head joins Steve Smith in the middle after the fall of the third wicket. He’s one with a counter-attacking reputation, as was on offer earlier this year during the short chase of the Indore Test. He lives up to it by scoring a quickfire 60 off 75, extracting 10 boundaries and adding 97 runs for the fourth wicket with Smith (at the end of the second session. Australia walk into Tea with 170 runs on the board and seven wickets in hand.
Sourav Ganguly on Star Sports (at Tea): “They were two contrasting characters. Smith grinded through his innings. Head just kept playing his shots. I felt the Indians, when in the early overs — they pitched up — didn’t get anything, they should’ve just bowled short at him for four-five overs. I think he got out of jail very easily. He got a lot of easy runs square of the wicket. In singles. When you have both your best bowlers from the two ends and you put the point and the square leg behind, you are sending a message that even the best deliveries will get hit for singles.”
Paras Mhambrey in the press conference: “We could have been more disciplined. After 12-13 overs, we lacked discipline. I felt we conceded more runs that we would have preferred.”
Smith joins forces with Head to keep the Indian pace attack and Ravindra Jadeja at bay in the last and the longest session of the day. India employed the leg stump line to the Aussie vice captain early in his innings but he shuffled well to force a change in line – outside off – with which he was more comfortable amassing boundaries. Coming into the WTC Final, Smith had two hundreds and another 80 to his name off the five innings he had batted at The Oval. It takes him 144 deliveries to get to his fifty. He bats another 83, adding 45 more runs to stay unbeaten at 95 at the end of the day’s play.
Travis Head post-day’s play: He (Smith) is one of the best players in the world, probably our best player. He’s our best batter, he’s unbelievable in these conditions, and he receives so much attention from opposition in terms of plans and how difficult he is to bowl to, so I’ve always said going out to bat with him, it feels like you’re in the shadow of that, you can sort of stay under the radar and go about your business.”
Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports (at Tea): “Steve Smith is the problem solver but no one has solved the problem of Steve Smith. India have tried more than any other side to go straight at him, with a leg slip, bowling at his stumps. The problem with Smith, he’s so good off his hip. He just tucks it away all day long. So they then change and go off side — which England have tried against him — and bowl the channel. (Off them) In the last hour or so (early in third session) he’s just felt that much more vulnerable out there. Bowl straight or bowl in the channel, whatever you do, he’s marching his way to another Test fifty here.”
Justin Langer on BBC Test Match Special: “I used to throw thousands of balls at Steve Smith, trying to get him out and it was heartbreaking. You couldn’t get him out. He’s uncoachable in the sense that he just figures it all out himself.”
Head continues the assault on the Indian pace attack to get to his sixth hundred — a first-ever in the WTC Final — off just 106 deliveries. Australia close with 327 runs on the board, partnership intact at 251.
Travis Head post day’s play: “Losing the toss in the morning I thought it was going to be a challenging day. Nice to contribute to get a good start. (Talking about his approach). I said in the lead up to the game, if balls are there to be scored off I am going to score off it. There were challenging periods but the ball gets to the boundary very quickly here if you find the middle of the bat. Technically, I have made those changes but for all around. I felt I needed to adapt to each condition. The foundations in my game has surely changed a lot since 2019.”
On the Star Sports broadcast, Justin Langer pointed out that Indian bowlers like Shami, Siraj and Umesh haven’t been able to extract the most from the surface at The Oval because of the “bent knee”. (Screengrab)
Interesting piece from Justin Langer on the Star Sports broadcast towards the end of the final session on day one. There’s been movement on offer for sure from the Indian pacers, especially Shami and Siraj, but they haven’t been able to extract the most from the surface at The Oval. Especially with the uneasy bounce there for the taking: “It’s the bent knee from Shami, Siraj and Umesh. Traditionally at The Oval, you get a higher bounce. From their lower trajectory, they might be swinging the ball but they’re not getting any extra height.” (Uses the screengrab of Jasprit Bumrah’s release posture to depict how Australia will benefit from the surface) “Bumrah braces the front leg. I think what will happen is when the Australians bowl, they are taller with a higher release point, they are going to get the extra bounce, and movement.”
Jasprit Bumrah’s release posture. (Screengrab)
Mark Howard adds on-air: “I would imagine the front knee of all those (Indian) bowlers would be going more and more low as the day goes on and they tire.”
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