IND vs AUS Day five teaser: Can Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma plot a magical win and rediscover past glory?

If Sunday’s Test cricket at the MCG was exhilarating, a mouth-watering Monday awaits the audience on Monday. With Australia’s overall lead sitting on 333—the highest score a team has chased to win here is 332, achieved almost a century ago— and with a wicket in hand, all three results are possible. A historic Border-Gavaskar retaining triumph by the Indians, a vital win for Australia who were reeling on Saturday morning but were revived by captain Pat Cummins and the fellow bowlers, or that cricket-romantic’s dream of a tie that both countries can’t stop talking about since the 1987 one in Chennai.

But two Indians have more reasons than most to dare, hope and dream: Rohit Sharma, the under-fire captain whose batting has suggested he is playing from a fading memory in this series, and Virat Kohli, who hasn’t been quite able to discipline his mind from betraying him. Both were let down by their inability to rev up what used to be their strengths: Rohit’s attacking batting, Kohli’s mental strength in taming his urges.

Their days couldn’t have started more contrastingly, before it ended almost similarly. Rohit started the day, standing in his jumper and watching the rest of the team warm-up. He never quite joined in; just a look at distance in nothing in particular for a while. Kohli contrastingly was here, there, everywhere, and addressed the huddle, after Nitish Reddy had holed out and Australia’s innings was about to begin.

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Rohit had stepped out onto the playing arena for the Australian innings, tucking in his jersey. He approached Akash Deep and had a chat about the bowling plans, going by how he gestured a few shots with his hands. Jasprit Bumrah, who seems to have made up his mind to immortalise himself into the Australian imagination in this series, joined the two. Kohli emerged out of the tunnel later and spoke in the huddle.

For a while after Bumrah took out Sam Konstas and whipped up the crowd, just as he had done after he had fallen on Friday evening, leaving Reddy nervy on 99 under dark clouds. Payback, Bumrah style. When Akash Deep and Mohammad Siraj, who has had his own battles to face this series from being booed by Australian fans and dissed by Indian fans for his bowling, stood up, Rohit the leader began to stir and get into the contest.

Old selves

In that initial phase, he had allowed Kohli to handle the field-placings and such. Not that he was disinterested—he very much was standing at the slips, clapping almost every ball, and saying stuff to the bowler as he would run past them at the end of the over, but there was a marked visible change in him. Perhaps, it struck him then that India could win this.

He signalled his men to move, encouraged his bowlers to bowl a line of attack he wanted, implored his fielders to look at him and respond, and sighed at missed chances. He told Yashasvi Jaiswal almost in a fit of annulment that has become his earthy style – yaar, ‘baitey rehna neeche’ (just crouch down)—when Jaiswal had gotten up too early from silly point to resultantly spill the catch offered Cummins. And so on and so forth.

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Kohli too by then became his old self, running, gesticulating, jumping, acting as if the balls well away from the bat had only missed the wood by the barest of the margins. Living every moment. But as the day wore on and evening arrived with Australians fighting back till their last men, and their pacers tired out, a sense of despondent resignation set in both men.

Not resigning to fate or surrendering, but a realisation that now it was up to the chase on the final day. That it wasn’t going to be simple. Both fell silent by the end. When Nathan Lyon was caught at the slip cordon in the final over off Bumrah, both turned and began to walk. Kohli ahead, with Rohit picking all three helmets from behind Rishabh Pant when they realised it was no ball. Neither reacted this time, just trudged back to slips, and Rohit would keep the helmets back on the field.

But the one good thing about the chase not being simple on a pitch where variable bounce is likely to play out more on the final day by conventional logic, India’s destiny is in their own hands. Australia hasn’t seen the best of Rohit yet. He himself hasn’t seen it in a while. Unlike Indian fans in general, Australians rate the foreigners who perform in Australia, in front of their eyes. Rohit has not here and it was one of the reasons he was almost sidelined in the pre-series promotions run by the media here, who splashed the young guns Jaiswal and Shubman Gill and the old marauder Kohli.

After batting down the order, Rohit chose to open. Not a wise move in the first innings on a fresher pitch and fresh bowlers, but it is something that can work in a chase situation. If he can land a few early blows and trigger worry, if not panic, in Australian ranks, India could start dreaming. It can then come down to Kohli, doing one more time against his favourite opponents – the Australian team and their fans Down Under.

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On the morning of the fourth day, the immensely popular radio commentator Jim Maxwell, who has covered cricket for ABC radio for 51 years, told this newspaper about this Indian pair. “This series I don’t think Virat is in his best mental shape at all. He doesn’t seem to have that ruthless mental strength and discipline that players like Bradman or even Steve Smith now. He has become a more flirtatious player. That’s why after that mix-up of a runout with Jaiswal, he went back to what he has been in the last year or two: loose outside off. The Kohli of the old wouldn’t have let that moment go. And Rohit is past it sadly,” he says.

It’s an observation not many would argue against. But then tomorrow is not just another day; it’s a day where these two Indians can seize their fading glory back. If not them, India will hope that younger stars like Rishabh Pant, Jaiswal, and Nitish can. Win, loss, or a tie, what awaits us?

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