INDIA SEEKING ORDER IN MIDDLE & LOWER

Contributions from No 7-9 will be crucial for India's success as has been the case during past tours in Australia

- GOMESH S

THE last time India played a Test match in Australia, things didn't go well for the batters. After letting Australia post 369 in the first innings, India were reduced to 186/6 at the Gabba. The match, and the series, was on the line when Shardul Thakur joined Washington Sundar in the middle. What followed from thereon was one of the all-time lower-order partnerships for India. Together, they would take India past 300 and reduce the lead to just 33 runs. The rest, as the world has witnessed, is just history. India breached the fortress, retained the Border Gavaskar Trophy and won the series 2-1.

Not just in The Gabba, but through the series as well as the historic victory in 2018-19, one of the crucial reasons for India's success was the contribution from the lower-order batters. Whether it was the draw in Sydney where R Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari saved the day or in Melbourne where Ravindra Jadeja scored a fifty, India would not have been able to achieve what they did without the lower-order.