Five things to learn from India's first tour game against Cricket Australia XI

By Chetan Narula

India began their all-important tour Down Under with a drawn tour game against Cricket Australia's Invitational XI played near Adelaide. With just over a week until the first Test begins at Brisbane, here are 5 things one can learn from this game.

The Problem of Choice

Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav were rested from this tour game after a hectic One-day internaional season at home. Both of them have enjoyed success in Australia on their past trips: the former earned his reputation here in 2007-08 while the latter was one of the few bright sparks on the ill-fated 2011-12 tour. Both are expected to feature in the second tour game starting Friday and Ishant will lead the bowling attack throughout this the tour, much like he did in England. Five pacers to choose from may make it a difficult choice for the Indian captain.



Ishant Sharma was the find of the Indian tour to Aus in 2007-08.

Big Things to Come
The big Australian cricket summer has gotten underway this November with South Africa coming over to play five ODIs and three T20Is, and it will culminate with the ODI World Cup late in March 2015. But the early start to the season has meant low attendances at those international games. Not so when team India has landed for their full Test tour followed by a Tri-series. There was a plentiful crowd in attendance at this low-frill tour game and if it is a sign of things to come, Cricket Australia’s gate-receipts will be cashed in full in the next two months.

Varun Aaron looked sharp on Day 1 as he picked up three wickets in the hosts’ first innings of 219 all out. He was the first change bowler after Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami, but soon took precedence as he worked up more pace off the track. Throughout the day he troubled the batsmen with his lively speed, running-in with rhythm, and if he somehow manages to stay fit, he could be a shoe-in the playing eleven throughout the Test series.

Bhuvi’s Challenge

Cricket Australia Invitational XI’s opening batsman Ryan Carters, who scored a fighting half-century on Day 1, was full of praise for Bhuvneshwar Kumar. “He isn’t the quickest Indian bowlers out there but he definitely is the most accurate. He keeps pegging at one particular length and it becomes a challenge to play that when there is help for him from the pitch and the conditions,” he had said. Kumar, Shami and Aaron were good on Monday but India have two other pacers.

Kohli's Day

Talking about captaincy, Virat Kohli took charge of the Indian team for the longer format for the first time. And that is putting it quite literally since both coach Duncan Fletcher and team director Ravi Shastri were yet to join the squad on Day1. The match was played as twelve-players-per-side instead of the usual practice as professed by Fletcher of trying out all squad members. Perhaps it was the reason why the ‘selected’ twelve appeared more intense than they would in a tour game of such little stature. Kohli then worked out well with the bat as well, on Day2, as he notched up a chanceless 60. Murali Vijay (51), Cheteshwar Pujara (55) Wriddhiman Saha (56) were also among runs, but they retired on reaching fifties. Kohli though didn’t after reaching his landmark and continued batting until he was finally caught at mid-wicket.



Virat Kohli made 60.