India’s BGT report card: Confused selections, batsmen with starts who didn’t capitalise & stars in front of microphones who couldn’t walk the talk

The series had started with a question of what would happen if something happens to Bumrah. Luckily for India, Bumrah had not only decided to immortalise himself into the imagination of Australian public with the most enthralling string of performances through the series, but also managed to inspire the rest of the bowling attack to an extent. Aided by the very fallible batting unit of Australia, India had somehow hung on till what would be the final day of the series with a chance to retain the BGT.

On what turned out to be the final day that dreaded question was answered and India sans Bumrah couldn’t produce that mini-miracle needed to defend a below-par 162.

The Australian team pose with the Border Gavaskar Trophy after defeating India in the fifth cricket test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, in Sydney, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

About an hour after his team had wrapped up the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Pat Cummins walked towards the pitch, which was ringed by rope and four security guards standing at each rectangular corner. It wasn’t to see the 22 yards where he had pounded again in the morning to ensure India didn’t get too many or where his batsmen chased down the 162 needed, but to see his daughter, playing with other kids.

He knelt down, spoke to her gently, a lovely paternal smile spread across his visage. Shortly afterward his wife joined them to take a photograph of the father and daughter. A short while earlier both the mother and the kid were at the Australian press conference where Cummins held fort on how he loves playing cricket, captaining the team, thinking about the here-and-now and the future of the team and about the succession plans for who could be the next Australian captain in times to come.

It’s something that more than Australia, India needs to do. Rohit Sharma’s best performance came in front of a camera mike when he spoke about how he isn’t done yet, and how youngsters aren’t still ready to be the captain. Unfortunately, for him, he couldn’t rev up a worthy performance with the bat and that hurt India.

Unfortunately, the key men of Indian team’s best performances seem to have come in front of the microphone, it has to be said. Or in a team huddle. Virat Kohli, the acting captain over the weekend in the absence of the injured Bumrah, tried his best to inspire his bowling and fielding unit, but failed at his job as a batsman, through the series, barring that ton in second-innings at Perth. Anything outside off, be it from back of length or full and wide, proved a kryptonite.

We don’t know what he has told the players inside the dressing room, but one of the best lines from the head coach Gautam Gambhir came in the post-series press conference. “Ultimately, it’s neither my team nor your team, it’s the nation’s team. I believe that, as I said, there are very honest players in our dressing room who know how hungry they are and whether the team can move forward with their contribution. But yes, as far as my question is concerned, my biggest responsibility is that I have to be fair to everyone in the team. Not only one or two individuals.”

If he can walk that talk, and there is nothing to doubt that he won’t, as yet, he has a couple of tough decisions to make involving Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

He would also say another line about honesty at the media interaction:
“The first thing is that the person sitting here will accept the mistakes first. So don’t worry that mistakes will not be accepted here,” Gambhir had said. No doubt he will have to look at his own coaching methods as his mantra, not just here but over the years, has been that sport is result-oriented.

India lost the ODI series against Sri Lanka, lost the Test series at home 0-3 with a historic whitewash that ended a 12-year winning streak in Tests. And now the BGT, after having moments right through the series.

KL Rahul who had started so well at Perth, has once again had a series where he starts well, but tapers off. The deliveries that dismissed him were pretty good in general but he would rue the type of dismissal like he had in the second innings here in the battle at the SCG. On Saturday, when India had raced to 42 for 1 in 7.3 overs, he went walking down the track and loosely drove at Scott Boland. Neither the walking down or the looseness in the drive was characteristic of his natural game. Perhaps he thought something had to be done, else Boland would harass them with his accuracy, but it perhaps wasn’t wise for him to try doing that. And in the manner he did. He was left shaking his head ruefully as he walked back.

Chaotic selection picks

Some of the selections too weren’t really ideal. Be it Harshit Rana for Adelaide after it was clear in Perth itself that he runs out of gas too early, and also more importantly, where Akash Deep’s skiddy seamers were a better fit. Or playing Washington Sundar almost as a pure batsman on a grassy surface at SCG. Or shuffling down KL Rahul and pushing Rohit back as opener in the fourth Test. That didn’t make much sense, especially when he never tried to attack but tried to imitate KL’s approach. This sense of chaos has abounded throughout and to think it had started with such a spectacular performance at Perth.

The bowlers tried their best, but the batsmen let them down. It was almost the same case with Australia, but they just about found enough batsmen standing up when needed and more than one bowler consistently performing – and seen through that prism the result isn’t a surprise.