Ind vs NZ, 1st Test Bengaluru – India’s counter instinct is backfiring like never before

If you were to imagine a scenario where, after a 2-0 loss in Sri Lanka, New Zealand were to face India, who are unbeaten at home for 18 consecutive series, then the fantasy would be pretty close, if not even exactly For example, what happened in Bengaluru. It had rained in the lead-up to the Test, the first day was washed out, the skies were expected to be cloudy and, as a final stretch of the imagination, one would expect New Zealand to insert India and run through them.

The last part of this has actually changed a bit. New Zealand wanted to bat first but India denied their death wish. This is due to the dry playing field. If anything, India was clearer about what they wanted to do: bat first and play three spinners. New Zealand’s second spinner was Glenn Phillips and they still wanted to bat first.

After both sides misjudged the conditions and India were unlucky to win the toss, the New Zealand seam bowlers were simply perfect for the conditions. No drive balls, about half of the balls at good length and the extra bounce for O’Rourke.

Yashasvi Jaiswal left the ball at first but cruised easily until the 12th ball he faced. There was no reason why he should have shot at that ball in particular: it was neither too far nor too wide. He tried to go towards the bowlers to contain the movement but there were 21 misses in his 63-ball stay, 10 of which were drives and aggressive shots. He might as well have taken a shot that looked ugly.

Rohit Sharma wasn’t so lucky. The first time he attempted a shot he was bowled. Rishabh Pant was as lucky as Jaiswal, surviving 20 misses and a dropped catch before claiming second slip. Sarfaraz Khan, who was asked to bat higher than he does in domestic cricket, used the third ball of the attacking option to no avail.

While it sounds brave and selfless for Virat Kohli and Sarfaraz to bat out of position, India will also be wondering whether KL Rahul wasn’t the best man to play at No.3 in these conditions. Rahul is one of only two Asian opening batsmen to score a century in all three matches of Australia, South Africa and England. Rahul’s decisive, old-fashioned demolition against England, in partnership with Rohit, was the reason for India’s 2-2 draw in England.

If India had had a week to prepare for the conditions in Bengaluru, chances are they would have put up a similar fight. Instead, they did what most of them instinctively did: counterattack. That’s logical, because you don’t want to be stuck on a bad playing field. You can’t dismiss this line of thinking out of hand, but as the control numbers and the final result show, if you keep attacking under these conditions and the throwers make no yardage errors at all, you’re leaving a lot to luck.

Traditional wisdom says that you try to get through the period of flamboyant seam movement and hope that you still have a special cast or two left when the seam softens and the sun comes out. Here India did not trust traditional wisdom, either because things were so different than expected that they were too shocked to respond or because they consciously chose not to. The ones who made it – Kohli and Rahul – were unlucky to get out before they could get in.

You can still get out of it at 46 or 36, but you can look back and say you tried to give yourself a chance and then move on and hope there’s better luck another day. India did just that in Australia after 36 all-outs. They suspect that this day cannot be easily erased from memory.