'Tentative' Aussies looking to pick up the pace

Regardless of the personnel Australia takes into the third Test of a Vodafone Series that has been stunningly restored to parity, it is accepted they must find quickly a way to put pressure back on India's bowlers by scoring more rapidly.

Australia's second innings at the MCG today yielded a couple of welcome firsts for the series now half-completed – the home team finally posted a total of 200, and forced the visitors to deploy a second new-ball – but it came with a caveat.

By scoring at a rate of 1.94 runs per over throughout the 103.1 overs India sent down, the besieged batters recorded the slowest completed innings by an Australia team playing on home soil for almost 40 years.

And while today's studied attempt to defy India's attack and build a lead of some substance was marginally brighter than the 125 hewn from 72.1 overs against Pakistan on the lifeless black mud that was the MCG pitch in 1981, it was continuation of a theme running through this bowler-dominated campaign.

Australia's scoring rate across four innings of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy battle to date, which includes the breezy pursuit of a small victory target for the loss of just two wickets in the first Test at Adelaide Oval, has been a dour 2.53 runs per over.

That represents just the fourth home Test series in the past 25 years in which Australia has been condemned to scoring at below three an over.

Two of those instances came against attacks led by some of the best new-ball partnerships Test cricket has seen – South Africa's Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock in 1997-98 (when Australia scored at 2.54 per over), and England duo James Anderson and Stuart Broad in the 2017-18 Ashes (2.97).

The other two bowling line-ups to tame the habitually free-scoring Australians at home have been fielded by India, who have historically struggled to wield the same influence with the ball when playing away from their spin-friendly tracks on the subcontinent.

When India recorded their first Test series win in Australia two summers ago, it was the capacity of seamers Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah to keep Australia's batters to a run rate of 2.64 across four Tests that proved as decisive as Cheteshwar Pujara's occupation of the crease.

And now, with the first two of that pace trio sidelined by injury, Bumrah has found allies in spinner Ravi Ashwin (who missed most of the 2018-19 series with a side strain) and rookie seamer Mohamed Siraj who stifled their opponents on a pacey, bouncy MCG pitch.

After the world's top-ranked Test batter Steve Smith admitted earlier today he had allowed Ashwin to dictate terms and needed to be more aggressive against him, skipper Tim Paine noted that mindset should be employed by all his specialist batters against every India bowler.

"If anything, we've been slightly tentative in committing to exactly how we want to play the spin or the fast bowling when they're attacking the stumps and setting really strong leg-side fields," Paine said in the wake of Australia's eight-wicket loss inside four days of the second Vodafone Test.

"That's the game, isn't it. It's risk (versus) reward, it's being clear and everyone's going to do it differently.

"Matthew Wade looks like he's going to sweep, other guys are going to use their feet, Cameron Green didn't attack him (Ashwin) overly today but played him really nicely.

"Everyone's got to have their own plan, be clear on it and then have the confidence to go out and execute it."

The national selection panel – chair Trevor Hohns, men's team coach Justin Langer and George Bailey – have time to ponder if changes are needed to the starting XI, with more than a week before the third Test starts on January 7.

Paine indicated today that some members of the current expanded Test squad might take advantage of the break to return to their KFC BBL teams if quarantine restrictions and bio-security protocols allow.

He also expressed confidence injured opener David Warner was on track to be passed fit for the next Test, and Will Pucovski had also shown his willingness to be considered provided he completes the required return-to-play protocols after suffering the ninth concussion of his young career.

The captain, who boasts Australia's highest individual score of the series with an unbeaten 73 in the first innings at Adelaide, remained equivocal when asked if changes needed to be made to his fragile top-order.

"No, not necessarily, I just think we need to bat better," he said.

"It doesn't matter who's out there, we need to be scoring runs.

"That's our job as a top seven for the Australian cricket team and if you're not, obviously they (selectors) will look for other people.

"But I think we've got the best people here at the moment, we just haven't been good enough to get the job done."

By contrast, and barely a week after his team was humbled for their lowest score in Test cricket when bowled out for 36 in Adelaide, India coach Ravi Shastri was bullish about retaining a bulk of the personnel who so dramatically turned around the team's fortunes in Melbourne.

Opener Mayank Agarwal is under the most scrutiny, having scored just 31 runs at an average of 7.75 from his four innings thus far, with experienced openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma (who joined the squad late due to injury) ready replacements.

Shastri said a decision would be made on whether Rohit would be made available for selection when he joins the India squad tomorrow, but confirmed they would continue to deploy a three-pronged pace attack supplemented by spinners Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja.

The make-up of that pace battery will depend on the fitness of seamer Umesh Yadav who limped from the field with a calf problem on day three at the MCG.

"We will stick to five bowlers," Shastri said in heralding India's form reversal among the greatest Test cricket has witnessed in its 143 years.

"Rohit joins the team tomorrow, so we'll have a chat with him to see where he is placed physically because he's been in quarantine for the last couple of weeks.

"We also want to see how he feels before we take the call.

"I think this will go down in the annals of Indian cricket, of world cricket, as one of the great comebacks in the history of the game.

"To be rolled over for 36 and three days later get up and be ready to punch was outstanding."

The challenge for Australia is whether they can conjure a similarly combative response, having been bowled out for 200 or less in their three completed innings of the Vodafone Series to date.

Should that trend continue in the third Test, it will be the first time since England duo Sid Barnes and Frank Foster tore through Clem Hill's team in the 1911-12 Ashes campaign that Australia have recorded first innings totals below 200 in three consecutive Tests on their home patch.

However, despite the struggles of his top-order (none of his top six are averaging more than 32 in the series) and clamps applied by India's exemplary bowling blueprint, Paine does not believe the team that successfully quelled them two summers ago has their measure once more.

"India are bowling well, they've been extremely disciplined, and we haven't been able to get partnerships together," he said today.

"But from what I've seen, watching say Marnus (Labuschagne) and Steve Smith in their Test careers, this is not the first time teams have targeted their stumps.

"That happens every single Test match.

"These guys (India) are executing it better, and someone like Steve hasn't been able to get in yet but once he does, he'll find a way like he always has.

"The rest of us need to improve, there's no doubt about that.

"But these aren't plans we're encountering for the first time."

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: India won by eight wickets

Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT