Rudderless Shami proves too costly

The first morning of the Boxing Day Test. India have been a little short in the first half an hour, but it has still been one of their best starts with the ball. They have bowled three maidens at the top, for the first time since Edgbaston 2011. One of those overs got David Warner's wicket. There hasn't been a loose ball in the first eight overs. Ishant Sharma is taken off after four overs because he will be replacing Umesh Yadav after his first spell at the other end. The ninth over is a big moment. Australia are 1 for 22. There are two men at the wicket whose batting credentials are being questioned, or at least were being questioned before the series in Chris Rogers' case. India can expect more wickets if they can keep the pressure on.

Enter Mohammed Shami. Perhaps he hasn't had enough time to mentally prepare because Varun Aaron - who was likely to play this Test - had to fly home for his grandfather's funeral. The first ball Shami bowls is a half volley. The last ball of his first over is short and wide. Rogers has gone from 9 off 28 to 17 off 34. Forty minutes of pressure built has been released in four. Shami pulls things back a little in his next two overs, conceding just two runs, but then bowls two poor balls in his fourth to go for three boundaries. Even Shane Watson is off and running.

Every kind of poor ball has been bowled; yet there is something about Shami. Before lunch he has Watson driving at a wide delivery, but the catch is dropped. Between that drop and the break, Shami drops another delivery short and wide and concedes another boundary.

He returns with a good spell after lunch, taking a wicket with his second delivery. Rogers is cross with himself for playing at this, but it is quite a good ball. The seam is proud and upright, the ball is shaping to swing back in, but holds its line after pitching. Rogers plays for the swing, but ends up edging. This wicket, though, has come out of the blue. In his next over Shami bowls two on the pads, but gets away with a leg bye off each.

It has still been a good spell, 4-3-2-1, an excellent spell actually. Shami needs to build on it, but when he returns he feeds two freebies down the leg side in his first over. Tea is minutes later, and he comes back with a gentle half volley first ball after the interval. Again he finds a wicket against the run of play, this time through a bad shot by Shaun Marsh, but there is no discipline.

In the 63rd over, Shami bowls a gentle short ball into the pads, and is pulled. Three balls later he fields one in his follow through, and in some warped show of aggression he lets rip a throw at the batsman Steven Smith, who is well inside his crease. Smith has already scored 415 runs in the series. He has been sledged with no effect. Shami throws the ball back at him, and guess what, he finds the pad. Down the leg side again from 18 yards this time.

Yet, after bowling the most loose balls and the fewest threatening deliveries among the Indian bowlers, Shami has the best figures. He has something going for him, but one impressive spell in a day's Test cricket, to go with others where he has mixed bad balls with good ones is not good enough. And it has been a day when India have been lucky with R Ashwin bowling 27 tight overs to keep the quicks fresh. Yet the game is in the balance, and they need the fast bowlers to be better on day two.

Shami begins day two with a short and wide first ball that goes for three. Later in the over he bowls a soft bouncer to Brad Haddin - part of India's plan, but they want intensity and pace - and concedes four. This morning, though, is a collective unraveling. Plans, intensity, captaincy and fielding are found wanting. Shami concedes four fours in two overs and is taken off. He comes back and provides three leg-side boundaries in his first two overs. He has gone for 23 boundaries. Ishant and Yadav have conceded 19 together. If Shami has been bowling at 150kmph, he can have some leeway, but he is the slowest of the three.

It is difficult to build or maintain pressure while conceding easy runs. MS Dhoni's explanation for such bowling has always been that these bowlers are used to bowling on Indian pitches, which means they are not patient and look for wicket-taking deliveries too often. How, though, is bowling down leg side when you have slips and gullies waiting going to get you wickets? From the outside, it is not clear what plan Shami is working on.

Shami knows a good line and length is necessary to build pressure in Test cricket. He says as much in press conferences. It is certainly not while looking for wickets that he keeps straying to leg or bowling short and wide. The issue has to be concentration or lack of strength and fitness.

On the England tour this year, Shami strayed onto the pads 103 times in 96 overs. Ishant provided those freebies 80 times in 115 overs and Bhuvneshwar Kumar 107 times in 173 overs.

After an easy debut against West Indies in India, Shami is finding out that the cost of living in Test cricket is pretty high. Take out the two West Indies Tests, and he is averaging 46 with a wicket every 12 overs.

Then again, three days ago, Shami brought the house down in the nets. For half an hour on a spicy pitch India's best batsman in Tests this year, M Vijay, couldn't middle one ball from Shami. Stumps flew, edges were taken, and pads were hit. Shami always looks good in the nets. He always bowls a few eye-catching deliveries, but one on the pads is never far away.