Lyon's return, Virat's luck, old balls, Wagner's price and new balls

Thoughts on Ind v Aus and NZ v Eng

Old balls slow down

I saw people online wondering why the India middle and tail looked so much better than their top order. And I get it. Axar Patel is saving them almost every match at the moment, Ravi Jadeja is their third-best batter in terms of batting average in recent times and R Ashwin is making runs too. 

But context is important. Even as Shreyas Iyer came in, it was clear the wicket was playing differently. The fast spin slowed down, and even when the pitch played up, you could adjust a little bit. By the time Axar and Ashwin joined up, the ball looked deflated. 

Ashwanth @TheCricketArk

India's Alrounder Trio in Indian Tests -since 2020 Player: Batting Ave/Bowling Ave Ravi Jadeja: 57.83/15.84 Axar Patel: 39.44/13.82 Ravi Ashwin: 29.46/13.73 Crazy numbers when you consider that they all generally bat below 5. The depth they bring is ridiculous. #INDvsAUS

And the two guys deserve their own credit. They are still lower-order batters, and while Australia missed some chances, they put pressure back on by scoring so well and picking their moments. (JK)

New and old balls in Tests

But we also need to look at the ball, contrary to popular opinion, spinners need the new ball as much as quicks. Perhaps not the rock-hard ball, but they certainly do a lot better with a ball under 40 overs old. Quicks don’t need it as much. In the last five years, seamers have managed to be as good from overs 40-80 as with the new ball. Which is amazing. But spinners struggle. 

Now, this is a bit different for India. Here both sets of bowlers prefer the newer ball. This might have been different in the pre-wobble ball and COVID days when reverse played a bigger part. But now seamers are struggling with the older ball. 

However, spinners are right there with them. Struggling just as much. We have seen Australia twice struggle to get through India’s incredibly strong lower order in this series. Perhaps Mitchell Starc would help there, though he’s not really the tail killer people believe. 

But as it stands, Australia have given up good positions twice in the series because their bowlers couldn’t get the squishy ball to help them as Axar and friends make a lot of runs. 

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli’s struggles against spin bowling is well documented in recent times. However, he has produced some masterful knocks on how to bat against spin on Indian wickets. He had a control percentage of 92 according to ESPNCricinfo during this innings and he picked the lengths correctly.