India lost the third match of the four-match Test series against Australia by 9 wickets on Day 3. The Indian batters tasted their own medicine as they got trapped in the Australian spinners’ web. Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon took 11 wickets in the match, out of which 8 were taken in the second innings.
Meanwhile, former legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar indicated on Day 1 that Ravindra Jadeja’s no ball that gave a new life to Marnus Labuschagne would be a ‘turning point’ in the match. And surprisingly, it proved right as Labuschagne stitched an important 96-run partnership with Usman Khawaja.
“If you look back, you will say that is probably what cost India the match because after that they (Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja) stitched a partnership of 96 when India were dismissed for 109. So I think that was probably the turning point. That no ball cost India the match,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
“Batters actually didn’t do justice to their talent. If you look at the Indian wickets, you will find it is the Indian batters who got themselves out, playing some shots anticipating that this is what the pitch is going to do,” Gavaskar added.
They did not get runs, apart from Rohit Sharma: Sunil Gavaskar
Gavaskar also talked about the Indian batters and said that they are lacking confidence as apart from the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, no other batter could get big runs. He mentioned that the batters should’ve gone down the pitch to hit but they let the pitch play with them.
“If you look there is a lack of confidence because, in the first two matches, they did not get runs, apart from Rohit Sharma, who got a lovely hundred in Nagpur. When you are short of runs, there is just that little tentativeness in their batting. And you can sense that they were feeling for the deliveries.
“They were not able to go down the pitch as much as they should have. They let the pitch overtake them. It was the pitch that actually started to play on their minds, even in the first innings but more so in the second innings,” he said.
“The pitch started to talk in the first hour itself, so it wasn’t going to be easy but still if we had made 160-170 in the first innings that could have made the difference,” the batting great said.
