Lower order, top quality: Axar, in company of Ashwin, saves India the blushes against Australia in Delhi Test

With Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj at No. 10 and No. 11, Axar had only Ravichandran Ashwin to work with. After that there was virtually nothing to fall back on. It’s true that Shami made a crucial 37 in the first Test, but his method is not one that you can bank on to come off with any regularity. Put all these things together and you get a sense of just how precariously India were poised and of the immense pressure and responsibility on Axar. The one saving grace was that Ashwin was at the crease and in a typically determined mood. And he has made five Test hundreds and been part of six century stands.

Axar had begun by getting a feel for the conditions, absorbing information and coming up with a plan on how to build his innings. In his first 26 balls, Axar played very straight, did not hit the ball in the air and put his head down and picked up ones and twos. It was only when Pat Cummins overpitched that Axar allowed himself some freedom, leaning into a drive and easing the ball past mid-on for his first boundary. Confident that he was middling the ball Axar then took on the weak link in the opposition. Matthew Kuhnemann, new to international cricket, tossed the ball up and Axar carved him through the off side. Off the next ball, picked the length early, planted his foot and slog swept the ball over the ropes at midwicket.

From here on, the tempo changed. Australia could only watch helplessly as their lead withered away. Axar showed his full range playing the cut, the cover drive, the on drive and much else. In his 114-run stand with Ashwin, Axar looked like a top-order batsman and not a left-arm spinner who was handy with the bat.

When Axar was finally dismissed, it was through a piece of fielding brilliance. The batsman had hammered the ball towards mid-on and off the bat it looked like it would clear the fielder, but Cummins leapt up and held a stunner, surprising himself that he had actually got to the ball. Axar made 74 off 115, and had taken India to 259, within four runs of Australia’s first-innings score.

As good as Axar’s innings was, it doesn’t paper over the very obvious cracks that are showing up time and again in India’s top order.

What is worrisome is the manner in which some of India’s batsmen are being dismissed, time and again. KL Rahul played the wrong line, with pad in front of bat, and this allowed Nathan Lyon’s well spun off break to trap him ini front. In the Decision Review System age, playing with pad in front of bat is asking for trouble. In this case ball tracking showed that it was the umpire’s call as to whether the ball would clip leg stump, and Rahul had to head back to the pavilion.Cheteshwar Pujara committed the same mistake, seven balls into his innings, before he opened his account. Perhaps the magnitude of the occasion, his 100th Test, was playing on Pujara’s mind, and he was gone even before he could get going.

Virat Kohli will consider himself extremely unlucky, adjudged LBW on a day when he was looking assured at the crease and in control. An arm ball from Kuhnemann threatened the stumps as Kohli brought his bat down. There was an edge, but it was unclear whether it was bat first, pad first or simultaneous. In the opinion of Nitin Menon, the umpire, the ball had hit pad first and was going on to hit the stumps and because of this Richard Illingworth, the third umpire had to uphold the onfield decision, in the absence of conclusive evidence to the contrary.

As soon as the finger had gone up, Kohli indicated that he had hit the ball, and held his position for a few seconds, examining the line where the ball struck his left leg, believing that the ball was slipping down leg. Kohli was so disappointed with the decision that even when the players walked off the field at the end of the day, with Australia back on top after Travis Head took them to a brisk 61 for 1, Kohli was deep in conversation with Menon.

To ensure that you play with bat in front of pad is easier said than done on a surface such as the Kotla pitch. Batsmen are never sure exactly how quickly the ball will come at them after pitching so there is a touch of hesitancy. The problem is, this can prove costly, as it did on the day.