Australia rely on Handscomb to help solve high-stakes puzzle against India

For Australia’s cricketers in India, working out how to bat on local pitches has meant solving a puzzle. One with high stakes, in real time. They cycle through the options: advance to the ball, or sweep to reach its pitch? Reverse sweep to find gaps? Open a stance to avoid being closed off? Attack early to push catchers back? Every choice has threats that it nullifies and new ones it invites, especially with quality purveyors of spin making counter-adjustments at the other end.

On the first day of the Delhi Test, Peter Handscomb appeared to have solved the puzzle. For a time, Usman Khawaja found a way, too. On a pitch that offered sharp turn from ball one even if it was slow enough to sometimes play off the surface, their partnership in the middle of the innings was worth 59, while Khawaja was the consistent presence in helping add 108 beforehand and Handscomb in another 94 afterwards. A total of 263 does not equal cricketing riches, but it was an advance on the previous week’s capitulation in Nagpur.

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The fact their contributions came from both ends of the top six was vital, after Ravichandran Ashwin knocked out the middle. Before the series, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne were the players expected to carry the campaign against spin, while Ashwin’s off-breaks were supposed to sow havoc among Australia’s left-handers. Instead, he knocked over both right-handers within three balls, using his unexpected line from wide around the wicket.

It was turn that did Labuschagne, the ball dipping to muddle the timing of his bat across his front pad, then straightening to hit him in front. Ashwin knew it was out, even if umpire Nitin Menon didn’t, and the record was soon corrected. Smith’s delivery was angled sharply across him and skidded on straight when he expected turn, drawing a flicker of movement of his hands towards the ball. Perhaps the slower surface let him catch up with it and provide a catch behind.

By then, though, Khawaja was well on his way, already nearing another half-century. In his prolific streak since returning to Test cricket in January 2022, his prosperity has reflected the team’s. A series win in Pakistan was built on his 97 in Rawalpindi, 160 and 44 not out in Karachi, and 91 and 104 not out in Lahore. A low-scoring win against Sri Lanka in Galle owed much to his 71. His two low scores in Nagpur started both innings against India the wrong way.

This time, after an early chance to short leg, Khawaja decided to get India before India got him. He skipped down to launch Ashwin for six down the ground, and the two most cerebral players on their teams went forehead to forehead. It was cricket with more than the usual element of chess, Ashwin varying his lines and angles, Khawaja his positioning at the crease. There were sweeps of all types and edges that landed safely, with Khawaja expanding his attack to left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. His calculated risk eventually brought him down, reversing Jadeja for a catch at cover point, but by then he had 81.

When Alex Carey followed for a duck, Handscomb was left on 28 with four wickets in hand. He had faced much the same situation when batting well in the first innings in Nagpur, only for the innings to collapse. This time the lower order offered more, while Handscomb looked the most composed at the crease of any Australian so far this series.

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Rarely leaving his ground or lofting, his method was to get the longest stride forward in defence, then to use the depth of the crease playing back. That way he could manipulate length without risking a stumping. Most notable was his foot speed when moving outside leg stump to play through the off-side. Jadeja’s accuracy means that he rarely allows the cut shot, but Handscomb hit them repeatedly through point and cover, sometimes a hybrid version with an angled bat to fuller balls. He was looking to score any time he spied the slightest width, or even off the line of the stumps, yet whenever the arm ball came fast and straight he seemed to read Jadeja’s mind.

Even with deep point back, Handscomb kept taking singles in this way, serene in a method that most would find risky. His accumulation underpinned partnerships of 59 with Pat Cummins, 19 with Nathan Lyon, and 17 with debut spinner Matthew Kuhnemann. While India could yet go large on the second day, it gives the visitors a chance. Assuming Cameron Green returns for the third Test, Handscomb will move one spot up to No5, and a team in flux would do well to give him space and time up the order. With such little time left to adapt if the Australians want to stay in the series, someone with a grasp of the puzzle is what they need.