It was in 1969 when India last suffered a massive batting collapse at home. The team led by Tiger Pataudi, a strong opposition at home, lost 6 wickets for 7 runs against New Zealand in Hyderabad. Forty-eight years later, the Virat Kohli-led Team India suffered a similar collapse—6 wickets in 7 runs against Australia on the second day of the first Test match in Pune.
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For Kohli and the team, it was an unknown territory—the team has been on a roll since 2015. Left arm spinner Steve O Keefe was the wrecker-in-chief scalping a career-best 6-35. All the wickets came from the far end after he switched ends post lunch.
But worse was in store. In a post lunch carnage, from 4-94 to 10-105, India went on to register its worst 7 wicket collapse in Test cricket ever. Its previous worst was 7-18 against New Zealand in Christchurch in 1990. If you look at only the home record, this was Team India's worst ever first innings performance in 11 years at home.
Team India head coach Anil Kumble termed it as “one bad day which was bound to come.” Speaking to the media after the day's play, Kumble said, “It was disappointing. We were in a pretty decent position when Rahul and Ajinkya were batting out there. But once Rahul got out, we lost those four wickets in five or six balls. That certainty pushed us back. And this pitch was certainly challenging, so we needed a lot more restraint. It was unfortunate that once Rahul got out, we seemed to lose the bearing at that point of time.”
The last time India was out for less than 105 at home was in 2008 when they made 76 against South Africa in the Ahmedabad Test.
Perhaps, indications of what lay ahead came before lunch when India lost Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli in the space of three balls, courtesy to seam bowler Mitchell Starc. This was Kohli's first duck since the Old Trafford Test match in 2014 against England.
Australia, thanks to a brilliant vigil by skipper Steve Smith who is batting on 59 not out, are already ahead by 298 runs. India have their back against the wall. It will be one of the biggest run chases for India at home. “There is always a first time for anything. We would like to restrict them to as little as possible. We dropped a few catches. It has hurt us in the past. Especially in this game, you need to hold your chances even if they are half chances. We dropped Steve Smith on a couple of occasions, that has certainly pushed us back. Hopefully tomorrow morning, we can pick up a few early wickets and then put the pressure back on them,” said Kumble.
