Yashasvi Jaiswal implodes, Virat Kohli licks his wounds: India's rapid self-destruction strike again.

What is the common factor linking the Indian batting performances on November 1 and December 27, 2024?

If you said a late collapse, three wickets for next to nothing, the run out of a top batter and a nightwatchman coming and going, you can afford yourself a pat on the back.

History of the wrong kind that characterised the first day’s play of the final Test against New Zealand in Mumbai repeated itself at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday evening, day two of the fourth Test against Australia. Before you could say Rip van Winkle, India lost three for six in 22 deliveries to squander all the initiative wrested through hard grind and immense self-discipline, allowing the hosts to take the Boxing Day Test by the scruff of the neck.

At the Wankhede Stadium against the Kiwis, it was the dismissal of Yashasvi Jaiswal that set the cat among the pigeons. Having made his way to 30, he essayed an ill-advised reverse-sweep against left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel and lost his off-stump. Mohammed Siraj strode in, bizarrely, as nightwatchman and was trapped leg before first ball, after which Virat Kohli ran himself out, playing to mid-on and finding himself short of his ground as Matt Henry smashed the stumps at the non-striker’s end. From 78 for one to 84 for four in eight deliveries, three wickets falling for six runs.

Jaiswal, Kohli and a run out were all common to the Melbourne meltdown as well. Steve Smith’s 34th Test hundred, his second in as many games, and his century stand for the seventh wicket with Pat Cummins muscled Australia to 474. India then lost skipper Rohit Sharma in the second over to his opposite number Cummins, who also produced a beauty to pack off KL Rahul off the last ball before tea. At 51 for two, India were well behind the game when Kohli joined the fluent Jaiswal, hoping to arrest an alarming slide marked by soft dismissals outside the off-stump.

For more than two hours, Kohli showed the kind of restraint that had made him such a feared batter until the end of 2019. He kept leaving balls, forcing the bowlers to come to him, while Jaiswal fused aggression with caution superbly. The left-hander left no loose ball go unpunished, but he didn’t try to manufacture strokes. During their 102-run partnership, Australia looked bereft of ideas.

Another collapse with less than half an hour to lunch

Only 25 minutes remained to stumps when Jaiswal drove Scott Boland to mid-on and set off for a quick, potentially risky single. Since the ball was struck in front of the wickets, it was the batter’s call and Jaiswal had no doubt in his mind that a run was on. Kohli took a couple of steps and stopped dead in his tracks while his partner kept running. They were standing next to each other when Cummins threw the ball towards the striker’s end, Alex Carey gathered it and did the needful. The Australian fans at the MCG, until then silent as the Indian contingent celebrated with gusto, found its voice; Jaiswal trudged back, mouthing ‘my call’ after an excellent 82. Even in isolation, it was a huge moment. In the context of what happened in the next few minutes, it was defining, game-changing.

All afternoon, Kohli had assiduously refrained from poking at balls outside off, but it seemed as if Jaiswal’s dismissal was playing on his mind, hindering his concentration. After two and a quarters of not even looking at balls on the fifth- and sixth-stump line, he flirted at Boland and nicked to Carey. Australia in delirium, Kohli in deep anguish. One wicket had brought two and he perhaps felt he was responsible for both.

Jaiswal’s dismissal had ushered Akash Deep to the middle as nightwatchman. Was it a wise move? Hindsight will say no. What chance does a lower-order batter stand against a quality attack compared to one from the top order? But the nightwatchman has been a part of Test history; in 1977-78, Tony Mann scored a hundred in that role against India in Perth to set up an unexpected victory. The sacrificial nightwatchman’s role is to see off the evening if possible, allow the specialist batter to come out the next morning. England use what they call the nighthawk, who doesn’t defend late in the evening but throws his bat around. Blame it on Bazball. A part of cricketing folklore, the nightwatchman concept isn’t going anywhere in a hurry.

Deep had helped India avoid the follow-on in Brisbane but was out fending off a Boland lifter this time. Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja saw off the few tense moments to close, aware that India’s reply is now in a shambles and the responsibility on them is immense with India on 164 for five, 310 behind. What thoughts to carry to bed.

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