Boxing Day Test: Tall order on tricky pitch as India stare at tough chase vs Australia

Rohit & Co. need to register the highest successful chase at 'The G' to win 4th Test
MELBOURNE: Some questions lingered as the Aussie tail wagged on and on here on Sunday. Were Australia being too defensive in not declaring early? Are they still haunted by the ghosts of India's 2021 win at the Gabba, where the visitors chased down 328 runs, 324 of them on the last day? Is batting getting easier or tougher on this pitch?

India, who will be chasing 333 or more on the final day of the fourth Test, will be hoping to go where no team has gone before at the MCG. If they are to qualify for the World Test Championship final on their own steam, it is important to chase down the target, but it's not that simple.

Largely, India have three major concerns.

The first is the pitch. It may have seemed to those watching the fourth day's play that the surface had eased out by the end, but the dogged Marnus Labuschagne, who showed the way to bat in these conditions, suggested that the natural wear and tear had only made things more difficult for batters.




"As the game's gone on, the bounce has got less and it's more inconsistent," Labuschagne said, "We're getting more balls hitting the stumps which would earlier have gone over. More balls are skidding through. The seam movement is the same but the amount of bounce is lower. It makes for pretty tricky batting out there. A few balls (also) shot up. It's hard work (against the new ball), the first 40-50 overs."

Labuschagne explained that lack of runs was the reason Australia didn't declare. "We wanted to have a bowl and put them under pressure, but the way the wicket played and the way India bowled, it wasn't an option for us. And so (the plan) became, 'Let's get as many runs as we can.' The lower order deserves credit."

Labuschagne also said India's Gabba chase was not the perfect comparison. "That wicket was flat. It was like a Day Two wicket on Day One. It was firm. Also, we were in a position where we had to win the series."

Nitish Kumar Reddy, who scored a brilliant ton on this surface, didn't go into much detail but basically agreed with Labuschagne's point of view.




"From the first day the movement was there off the pitch. So, the pitch is doing something, and we could see later on the fourth day, it was doing a little bit more. But we don't need to put pressure on ourselves, like the pitch is doing this or that. We need to go according to the situation," he said.

The second concern, of course, is "the situation". When to actually go for the target, whether to go for it, or when to call it off and try and settle for a draw.

"I feel you need to get one or two good partnerships," was all Reddy would divulge. A sedate partnership or two at the top would give India the cushion to up the scoring later on with wickets in hand, but there is also the small matter of handling the formidable Aussie pace attack.

India's third concern, therefore, is getting the batting order right. If Rohit Sharma opens and gets out early again, it could put immense pressure on KL Rahul at No. 3. Isn't the out-of-form skipper better off batting against the softer, older ball lower down the order?

As for Reddy himself, should he be promoted up the order after his maiden Test ton? And why has Gabba hero Rishabh Pant not hit his straps yet?

"We'll come back strong in batting order. What we've done in the first innings, we'll rectify the mistakes. We've to first take the last (Aussie) wicket," Reddy said.

As of now, only one thing is certain. By not declaring early, Australia have shown they are wary of India chasing down any target, even with all the talk about the pitch being difficult. This has been an intriguing contest so far. Will Day Five live up to the promise?


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