India vs Australia: Chinatown at Eden Gardens

Kuldeep Yadav is cock-a-hoop after his hat-trick against Australia at the Eden Gardens on Thursday. Express photo by Partha Paul.

Till the 31st over of Australia’s chase, the theme of the second ODI centred around a fascinating individual battle between Virat Kohli and Steve Smith that the Australia captain would lose. Kuldeep Yadav changed the script completely two overs later.

The chinaman bowler was a touch expensive in his first seven overs, conceding 39 runs without a wicket. His eighth over started uneventfully with a full delivery that Matthew Wade defended.

The next delivery was a leg-break wide outside the off stump. Wade somehow managed to drag it back on to his stumps. Ashton Agar was done in by the drift; playing all over it. He consulted Marcus Stoinis before deciding against a review. Pat Cummins came and got a googly that he misread. He played forward, snicked the away-goer into MS Dhoni’s gloves. Yadav became the third Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in ODIs after Chetan Sharma at the 1987 World Cup against New Zealand and Kapil Dev, also at Eden Gardens, in the 1991 Asia Cup against Sri Lanka.

Harbhajan Singh deserves an honourable mention here, although his hat-trick was in a Test match against Australia at this venue 16 years ago. On Thursday, a wrist spinner ruled. Yadav finished with three for 54 in his 10 overs to turn the game decisively in India’s favour. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal also made life tough for the Aussies, snaring two wickets for 34 in his 10 overs. “For the first five overs, I struggled to bowl in the right areas. But it happens in the game of cricket. I got hit for three consecutive sixes in the last game. Here I took three wickets in three deliveries. It’s absolutely special,” Yadav said after the match.

WATCH VIDEO: Kuldeep Yadav hat-trick

The lead-up to Yadav’s hat-trick was Smith’s lone-ranger before he miscued a pull off Hardik Pandya. The bouncer got big on him and the top edge went high towards Ravindra Jadeja, substituting for Kedar Jadhav, at deep mid-wicket. Jadeja misjudged it but a superb recovery and full-length dive made up for the initial misjudgment. The Aussie skipper hung his head and trudged back. He was giving a classy response to Kohli’s brilliant 107-ball 92 and a turnout of about 36,000 was enjoying the individual battle between the two modern-day batting greats. But in the end, India’s collective might saw them defend 252 on a spicy Eden Gardens pitch and take their winning streak to eight ODIs on the bounce. Stoinis’s 62 not out off 65 balls reduced the victory margin to 50 runs.

Australia finished the match tamely but their start was aggressive. Pat Cummins’ first ball zipped off the deck after India chose to bat first. After successive failures, Ajinkya Rahane was playing a very important ODI innings and had a close shave upfront, when he poked at a Cummins out-swinger and missed it by a whisker. But a couple of gorgeous cover drives off Nathan Coulter-Nile changed things positively. Rahane likes pace on the ball and this Eden pitch offered plenty early on, although it became a little sluggish as the match progressed. The ‘reserve’ India opener started to put on a cover-drive exhibition. For his first 31 runs, Rahane had just one single on the leg side – an inside edge – and everything else was off-side-bound.

Kuldeep Yadav became third Indian to take ODI hat-trick. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

He was run out after scoring 55 off 64 balls, when he hesitated for second despite Kohli going to the danger end. But this knock would help him regain confidence that he sometime lacks in white-ball cricket. India needed a partnership after Rohit Sharma’s early dismissal and a 102-run second wicket stand between Rahane and Kohli prompted a solid recovery.

Kohli took time to settle down. He had one run off nine balls to start with. But as Kane Richardson, in for James Faulkner, came as first change, the India captain walked down the pitch and caressed a length ball through cover for his first boundary. A pull in Richardson’s next over was even better.

Kohli started to enjoy himself, went past his half-century in 60 balls and looked set for his 31st ODI hundred. India were 185 for three after 35 overs and a total in excess of 300 appeared a firm possibility. But then they started losing wickets in clutches. Jadhav was done in by the extra bounce from Coulter-Nile. Kohli dragged a Counter-Nile delivery on to the stumps eight runs short of three figures and after a long while Dhoni failed, when he played a little too early to a slower ball from Richardson.

Nathan Coulter-Nile (Reuters Photo)

At 204 for six, India had to play for the full 50 overs. Pandya and Kumar built a mini lower-order partnership during which the former took a ‘friendly blow’ from his batting partner. Kumar’s thunderous drive crash-landed into Pandya’s helmet but the all-rounder was strong enough to get back on his feet after some medical attention. Both made decent contributions lower down the order and 252 was a par score on this wicket.

When Australia started their chase, Kumar used the new ball beautifully. Hilton Cartwright’s circumspection felt like an audition for the Ashes. And when the opener tried to play an expansive cover drive, he was bowled through the gate. Kumar made the ball jag back sharply off the pitch.

India won by 50 runs (Reuters Photo)

The India seamer dismissed his Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner with a beauty of an out-swinger and should have had Travis Head as well, but Rohit dropped a relatively simple catch at first slip. Kumar finished his first spell with figures of 6-2-9-2. It was match-turning in the context of the game. Head and Smith put on 76 runs for the third wicket, Australia’s only act of combined resistance batting-wise. Coming back to Yadav, a hat-trick at India’s most storied cricket venue, his home in the IPL, was a dream come true-like achievement. Back home in Kanpur, one Kapil Pandey could take huge satisfaction, for he suggested his academy ward switch to wrist-spin.

Pandya and Law 31.7 and Law 38
Pandya’s mis-hit landed safely into Smith’s hands at cover but it was no-ball as Richardson had bowled a waist high full-toss. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was at the non-striker’s end, and he and Pandya had crossed but both were out of the crease. So, when Smith threw the ball back to the bowler and the bails were dislodged, the Aussies appealed for a run out. The umpires, however, negated the appeal, although the Aussies argued. The MCC is the custodian of the Laws of Cricket and its Law 31.7 says: “An umpire shall intervene if satisfied that a batsman, not having been given out, has left the wicket under a misapprehension of being out. The umpire intervening shall call and signal dead ball to prevent any further action by the fielding side and shall recall the batsman.

“A batsman may be recalled at any time up to the instant when the ball comes into play for the next delivery, unless it is the final wicket of the innings, in which case it should be up to the instant when the umpires leave the field.” Law 38 deals with run out. It says: “The striker is not out Run out: if no-ball has been called and he is out of his ground not attempting a run.”