India made several mistakes in their 184-run loss to Australia in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne recently, as a result of which the Pat Cummins-led hosts moved into the lead for the first time in the five-match series with one game to go.

India committed several mistakes in the Boxing Day Test against Australia in Melbourne. AP

Team India endured a difficult outing in the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Despite putting up a brave fight on Days 3 and 4, the Rohit Sharma-led side ended up suffering a 184-run defeat at the hands of the Aussies in Melbourne. Not only are they now 1-2 behind in the five-match Test series, the loss also dampens their World Test Championship (WTC) final hopes.

Let’s get straight to the point. What mistakes did Team India commit at Melbourne?

Senior players fail to step up

India had been set a target of 340 to chase down by Australia on Day five of the Melbourne Test. Barring Yashasvi Jaiswal (84) and Rishabh Pant (30), none of the batters stepped up in the chase. Much had been expected from the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, but neither of these players were even close to being good in the fourth Test against Australia. Kohli playing outside off deliveries have been a cause for concern recently, and in Melbourne, he fell victim to the corridor of uncertainty yet again.
Virat Kohli endured another difficult outing in the ongoing Test series against Australia. AP
To add to the team’s worries, Rohit Sharma’s Test future has now been reportedly thrown into doubt amid a poor run of form this year. KL Rahul, on the other hand, showed promise in the first innings but was dismissed for 24. The second innings, was an absolute failure for nine out of the 11 Indian cricketers.

Rishabh Pant throws away his wicket
Rishabh Pant’s approach in the second innings in Melbourne was criticised by Sunil Gavaskar. AP
The problem with being too aggressive in Test cricket is that you risk of throwing your wicket away. That’s exactly what happened to Rishabh Pant in India’s run chase. It was a short ball from Travis Head outside off, and Pant looked to go for the pull on this occasion but it failed to go the distance. Mitchell Marsh at wide long-on took a brilliant catch to dismiss the India wicketkeeper. Pant’s rash shot against Head prompted a harsh reaction from Sunil Gavaskar, who termed Pant’s shot “stupid”.

Run-out error

Australia had posted 474 on board in the fist innings at Melbourne. India were 51/2 when Kohli joined Jaiswal in the middle, and while the duo forged a 102-run stand for the third wicket, it could very well have been more than that had it not been for a reckless run-out. Jaiswal was on strike at 82 when he set off for a risky single. Only problem was that Kohli at the other end seemed to be ball-watching and even though Australia missed a chance from a Pat Cummins throw, Alex Carey made full use of his efforts, collecting the ball and running into the stumps to dismiss Jaiswal.

Over-dependence on Jasprit Bumrah

Sure, India may not have had a bowler like Jasprit Bumrah in recent times, but an over-dependance on any player for that matter is not good for a team. In Melbourne, Bumrah collected nine wickets across both innings, but most importantly, he lacked support from Mohammed Siraj in the first innings. Siraj (3/70) was still better in the second innings. That lack of support from Siraj in the first innings meant Australia scored runs freely as they posted 474 on the board. Akash Deep, on the other hand, picked two wickets in the first innings while going wicketless in the second.

Jaiswal’s dropped catches

While Jaiswal was excellent with the bat, with two fifties in Melbourne, not all was well for him on the field. Jaiswal dropped three catches on Day four of the Test against Australia, something which seemingly angered Rohit on the field. Bumrah had picked three wickets in succession. Facing Akash in the 40th over, Marnus Labuschagne nicked one towards Jaiswal at gully but failed to hang on to it. It was a fairly easy catch but Jaiswal just wasted that opportunity. Jaiswal could also have dismissed Pat Cummins off Ravindra Jadeja’s ball almost 10 overs later, but dropped a chance yet again.