Remembering Kolkata 2001 when India pulled Australia into the danger zone

And so it turned out, as Kohli built his game against the weak spin of Kuhnemann in Sunday’s final session against Green’s raw seamers and left-arm spinner Axar Patel, India’s top hitter in the series, for his third Test. and 22-year-old Todd Murphy, playing his fourth.

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Both spinners can be proud of their achievements on this tour. In helpful conditions, Murphy claimed seven wickets on his debut in Nagpur and Kuhnemann had the remarkable 5-16 numbers after the first innings of the previous Test at Indore.

But both were assailed by reality in Ahmedabad and held their ground for hours ahead of India’s late onslaught.

If there’s one piece of end-time history that Australia should remember, it’s the Ranchi test from their previous 2017 tour of India.

That’s when Australia hit 451 in their first innings, and as Steve Smith remarks from time to time, it was never enough. India declared at 9/603 as Steve O’Keefe bowled 77 overs. It keeps him ahead of Nathan Lyon in the Test, who threw just 65 overs for his three wickets.

Australia played a solid draw at Ranchi last time, batting more than a day to lose six wickets.

If Australia can repeat day five at Ranchi on Monday they will be tired and content they have recovered well with a win and a draw after capitulating in the first two Tests.

Indeed, if the first two Tests had been Tour matches, it makes you wonder how Australia might fare in this series. The downside, of course, is that the whole idea of ​​limited prep was to have players fresh at the tail end of the series. Three, three days of testing would certainly have helped, but after the long drudgery from Ahmedabad nobody will be fresh.

Which poses a problem for another day and probably another captain and coach. When Australia return in 2027, they will be the first time since Kim Hughes led a team for a six-Test tour on the eve of World Series Cricket’s reconciliation in 1979.

If India decides to introduce more gates like Ahmedabad, it will be a very long tour indeed.

But for now, all that matters is a long and hard-working Monday at the Crease as this Aussie team seeks to make their own increasingly respectable piece of history.

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