3 minute read

Auld Lang Syne may be in the rear view mirror but few non-Ashes Tests are as much looked forward to as this one in Sydney.

Check out the Racing And Sports Preview for the Indian Tests this summer with a betting idea at the end.

AUSTRALIA v INDIA

5th Test

3 – 7 January 2025 @ SCG

Test Cricket continues to shine brightly even if some might prefer to turn the lights off.

What Melbourne, and Melbournians, showed was that by providing entertaining, enriching and see-sawing play, you don't need to be having a 4 hour slugfest to be sated. Note well Cricket Australia.

But along with that, having brilliant players atop their career best helps and boy there is one this season.

Since World Series Cricket, we've seen some grand fast bowling feats from foreign players over that nearly 50 years.

There's Sir Richard Hadlee's absolute masterclasses in 1985 including 9 in the first dig in Brisbane, Marshall and Ambrose regular wrecking through the mid to late 80s and the odd interventions by a Dale Steyn or Allan Donald.

Jasprit Bumrah's first four Tests easily sit within those high water marks. 30 wickets @ 12 is preposterous in this current era of fast scoring and spreading of the workload.

Consider that every time you, as a batting line up, walk out to take strike, you are susceptible to a superb leg cutter or inswinging yorker. Then if you survive, try and score. He's giving up about 2.7 RPO.

Enter stage right Sam Konstas. Debuts can be full of nerves, full of apprehension and often raising more questions than answers.

That is what made the opening manic foray both fascinating and hilarious. Here was just a kid, green as grass and traditionally more worried about pimples and instagram followers, causing the premier bowler of the age more headaches than those teammates in their dotage.

Ramping sounds like a term you'd be using when putting the 'tinny' out onto the lake over Christmas. Konstas had his version deployed in the first over.

From a technical view you can see weakness but naturally a 19yo is going to develop and mature his game. Bumrah exploited that in the second dig.

But his attitude was the winner on Boxing Day and as the Test panned out, those first 89 runs in under 20 overs were some of the fastest in the entire game.

Emanating from the chutzpah on display was the reaction from a certain great. Whether Virat Kohli's bump was a deliberate effort to upset the youngster, a ploy to disrupt the vibe, or to give himself an artificial boost is up for debate.

And reality is that it wasn't Mark Yeates on Dermott Brereton out of the centre in the 1989 Grand Final. So maybe we can stop with some of the palaver. The degree of some media duplicity is quite amusing.

But it still wasn't necessary and maybe the sanction needed more scrutiny for either penalty or deterrent. It was definitely though a sign of pressure. Kohli felt as the elder statesmen, he could influence and inspire.

Similarly on the last day you could sense the build up of anxiety within home side ranks. Stress levels rose with each passing over as they failed to deliver the necessary wickets.

This has happened several times in recent years (most notably in Sydney when unable to take the low order scalps). For all of Nathan Lyon's longevity and strength of support, off spinners are less likely to polish off the tail. He did enjoy Siraj though.

Where is the leg-spinning train that was supposed to emanate from Warne's breaking of barriers? MacGill certainly came 10 years too early.

The Sri Lankan tour and subsequent Windies matches have to see someone blooded. Is it Zampa, back to Swepson or someone in the ether who you wouldn't know because there is no first class cricket to even consider them?

One decision that did cause a tad of consternation was that which probably gave Australia the greatest hope in the last session.

The DRS on Yashasvi Jaiswal had much of Indian twitter ropable and most of the rest satisfied.

Let's get the elephant out of the room. He smashed it with bat or glove or both. But that isn't the crux of the issue. It is - was procedure followed appropriately.

Who pays for hot spot is the cause of the drama and that gets lost in the tantrums but the missing agency of 'Snicko' flamed the fires and the claims of bias. Firstly remember it was a West Indian Umpire and a Bangladeshi Third Umpire.

But if the lack of snicko-action was the reason for those saying Jaiswal should have remained not out, rather than the eyes seeing the re-direction, contemplate this.

You could hit one straight to first slip but stand your ground, hope the umpire is unsure and pray snicko fails to activate. What is the difference if the technology nosedives there?

Ashton Agar would love a chat to Stuart Broad about that famous on-field hilarity from Trent Bridge a decade back. What would the third umpire have done there if nothing was shown up?

The game has enough delays as it is. This type of drama will only lead to more batsman looking like a mime and hoping someone turns the power off in the Officials area. Thankfully that didn't happen and we move on.

And so it is to the SCG where you always look for horses for courses policy. One of the great horses on one of the great courses is SPD Smith.

Four hundreds at his home ground at an average of 70 is a pretty fair representation of that. His four innings against India are 117, 71, 131 & 81.

And to add in one more fillip, he needs 38 runs to hit the 10,000 mark. Recall Steve Waugh, on that famous day on this very patch of turf, brought up his five figures in 2003. The adulation could be as fervent.

You have to back Smudge in for 50 and could even contemplate another larger milestone.

But what awaits him from Bumrah. His excellence of execution is only matched by that devilish and foreboding smile.