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Coined by Queensland teammates some years ago, the nickname “Jaddu” always seemed a touch optimistic for Matt Kuhnemann when lined up against the Indian spin bowling exploits of Ravindra Jadeja himself. Not anymore.
On a bone dry and treacherous Indore pitch, Kuhnemann did a day one job on India that Jadeja could only have applauded, before Usman Khawaja made sure the breach was exploited by Australia with one of his finest Test innings.
Kuhnemann (5-16) had been behind Ashton Agar in considerations for this tour, but his accuracy and at times vicious spin out of a bone dry Indore surface was exactly the formula needed to crack open India’s top order.
Matthew Kuhnemann after snaring one of his five wickets.Credit:Getty Images
Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne and locum captain Steve Smith then made priceless contributions that took the Australians to 4-156 at stumps, a position from where they now have a chance to seal their place in June’s World Test Championship final at the Oval by winning here.
Asked how much confidence he derived from watching Australia spun out in the first two Tests, India’s captain Rohit Sharma had offered a succinct reply by way of staying vigilant: “What has happened to them can happen to us.” And so it did.
A tally of 109 was India’s lowest at home since they cobbled 105 and 107 against Australia in Pune in 2017. Before that, a total of 104 was cobbled against the Australians in Mumbai in 2004, in a match India won on a similarly exotic pitch.
Sharply spinning surfaces had clearly been India’s chosen remedy to make certain of their place in that June final. But the Australians have now been here for a month, and there were few subtleties needing to be learned about how this track behaved - offering twice as many degrees of spin as Nagpur did.
After Travis Head missed a straight delivery from Jadeja in the second over, chaos threatened when Labuschagne was bowled playing a remarkably similar shot to the second innings in Delhi, only for Joel Wilson to stretch out his arm for a no-ball, the third such instance in the series.
Under pressure, India found themselves with the sort of DRS troubles common to Australia. Two referrals were used up searching for lbw verdicts, and with only one left, Rohit declined to go to the third umpire for a Ravichandran Ashwin shout against Labuschagne that lit three reds.