The Australian left-arm pacer made complete use of the short stuff right from the start on a wicket that offered more bounce than the previous two decks. Johnson held in reserve testing both the Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Dhawan from one end.
Though Dhawan fell early, Sharma repeatedly showed hesitancy while tackling Johnson's deliveries targeting his body.
After his nervous seven over stay in the middle, Sharma was out to one such delivery off Shane Watson, which he tried to attempt ineptly with a horizontal bat without moving his feet.
Johnson then rattled India's weakest target — Suresh Raina — with some well-targeted deliveries. Johnson went on to dismiss Ravindra Jadeja with a similar fiery ball that provoked him to try a pull without getting into the position.
The only person who remained unaffected by Johnson's (or any other Aussie pacers) repeated assault was skipper MS Dhoni. Though his footwork also seemed to suggest that he was a little tempted to take a step back in anticipation of the short ball, but he never let that affect his natural free-flowing batting style.
The big question again is whether the Indian top-order is still amateurish in their approach, wary of bouncers, and only comfortable on their home soil. The problems which led to the decline of previous generation of players like Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly still exists in the present age of batsmen.
The task will not be easy against the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel when India travel to South Africa later this year but India can learn from Kohli or skipper Dhoni's way of tackling short deliveries. Even though the skipper has some technical deficiencies, his determination and grit to dig deep makes him a perfect example to follow.
And lastly, the Indians will have to come to terms with the fact that the 2015 World Cup will be played in Australia and New Zealand. And if the present rule of two new balls manages to survive till then, there will sure be some chin music and teams blessed with fast bowlers will have the last laugh.
