The smart and shoddy Smith

KARACHI: The Australian aggressive style of play to go for a win regardless of their chances was tested on the fifth day of the third Test against India when stand-in captain Steven Smith made two important decisions, one of which was applause-worthy for a new captain while the other can only be termed sloppy. The outcome for both raised a few eyebrows and highlighted the change in attitude brought into the team by the new skipper who preferred defence over offence.

Australia, well poised to dictate terms on the last day of the Melbourne Test with a 327-run lead, came in to bat with a plan to heap up quick runs in the first 10-15 overs with Shaun Marsh and Ryan Harris on the crease and then invite India to bat and make it 3-0, but some quality Indian bowling denied them the chance to pile up runs as swiftly as they would have liked.

Smith, standing in his second Test as captain with the Adelaide Oval memories fresh where Virat Kohli scored 141 and nearly led the Indians to victory, revised his plans and delayed the declaration till lunch with India requiring 384 off 70 overs. Smith defended his decision by saying he didn’t want India to get a ‘sniff of victory’. His revision came as a counter strategy after the Indian fielders were pushed back by skipper MS Dhoni to allow Australia some runs so they could declare and allow India to come in and chase.

However, when India came in to bat they lost three quick wickets for 19 runs and Smith thought he was on his way to a second victory on the trot but Ajinkya Rahane and Kohli put up an 85-run fourth wicket partnership to rain on Australia’s parade.

Kohli was accounted by Ryan Harris after scoring a half-century, while Cheteshwar Pujara and Rahane were dismissed by Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood, respectively with four wickets and 15 overs left in the match. Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin started batting on from 142-6 and continued till the 66th over posting 174-6 and this is where Smith displayed his naivety.

Umpires offered to call it a day and Smith shook hands with Dhoni and walked off with his team not even trying to get the last four wickets. At the back of his mind he knew that the pitch was not tricky enough to attempt a rampage on the Indian skipper and the tail-enders. But maybe if he had tried, Australia could have savoured a chance to win back the Border-Gavaskar trophy with the same 4-0 counter as India did in 2013.

With an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series, Smith cleared all doubts by saying that the victory in the series was more important to Australians than trying reckless aggression on the last day of the third Test by declaring early as India have a lot of good batsmen who can make a match out of nothing.

It was interesting to see an Australian captain relying on a defensive strategy unlike his predecessors Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke who would do anything and everything to bag a victory. And this raises a very important question: does Smith belong to a new defensive breed of Aussies skippers?

Both teams will now travel to Sydney for the final Test of the series and after Dhoni’s surprise retirement, it will be a confrontation between two new captains; Kohli trying to salvage some respect while Smith competing to proving his efficacy.

 

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