Australia eye famous win today
India suffered an embarrassing batting collapse for the second consecutive day as Australia closed in on a famous win in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Indore. After being bowled out for 109 in the first innings on Wednesday, India folded for 163 on Thursday, giving Australia a target of 76 after just two days of cricket in the Test.
Cheteshwar Pujara (59) was the lone warrior with the bat for India, hitting a gutsy half-century. Shreyas Iyer, who got a duck in the first innings, made a rapid 26 before being sensationally caught by Usman Khawaja. And these two knocks were the highlights of India’s second innings.
India were outfoxed by Nathan Lyon (8 for 64) who overcame his horror outing in Nagpur last month to grab a five-wicket haul for the 23rd time in Test cricket. Lyon also finished with a match-haul of 11 wickets. It was a great display of spin bowling and further exposed India’s inability to play slow bowling. While some may argue that a few of India’s batters “looked good”, it only seems logical to argue that batters need to score runs rather than just look good in phases.
At one point in the morning, India saw a ray of hope thanks to Umesh Yadav and R Ashwin who took three wickets apiece as Australia collapsed from 186 for 4 to 197 all out. But India’s hopes were dashed by their batters who continued to make basic errors against a more determined and disciplined Australian side.
Rohit Sharma made a horrible decision with his dance down the track on Thursday but young Shubman Gill learnt nothing from his captain’s mistake – he advanced down the pitch to Nathan Lyon of all bowlers and was clean bowled. Virat Kohli lasted merely 26 deliveries and then perished to a shortish delivery from his nemesis this edition of the BGT – Matthew Kuhnemann.
Ravindra Jadeja batted at no.5 for the second time in the Test but he could not make an impact as India’s slide continued. The hosts were totally rattled against Matthew Kuhnemann in the first innings and in the second, seemed as clueless against Nathan Lyon who used all his guile and experience to bowl Australia to a dominant position. The Australians are now just a few steps away from sealing the first berth in the World Test Championship final.
Cheteshwar Pujara batted for 142 deliveries and scored 59 before a fantastic Steve Smith catch ended his resistance and gave Nathan Lyon his sixth wicket of the innings. While Pujara did Pujara things in the middle, Rohit Sharma seemed to gesture to Ishan Kishan that he wanted to see a few big shots. A few moments later, Pujara obliged his captain with a six off Lyon but that counted for little as the Australian off-spinner had the last laugh.
It was down to Axar Patel, easily among India’s best batters this series after Umesh Yadav was sent back by Nathan Lyon for a duck. Axar’s stint at the crease was a lesson for a lot of the top-order batters who either tried too much or were too defensive against the Australian bowling line-up. Axar Patel’s footwork against the spinners has been a sight to behold throughout the series but there was little for him to do in Indore having come out to bat at no.9 with India on the brink of a heavy defeat.
India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour admitted the Indore pitch had done a lot more than expected of a first day surface but he should be genuinely annoyed with the decison-making of his senior batsmen. It was after all a home venue for India and no criticism of the pitch can shield India’s horror show with the bat. Are India’s current batsmen as good against spin as their predeccessors? No. Therefore, India need to introspect deeply instead of brushing aside these concerns.
