India beat Australia in the second Test by six wickets at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi to take a 2-0 lead in the series. India also retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the fourth consecutive time as Pat Cummins led Australia failed to capitalize on benefits in Delhi. After winning the toss Australia opted to Bat first and posted a competitive total of 263 runs in the first Innings. However, they failed to restrict India for a low score and bearly managed to get 1 run lead in the first innings.
In the second innings, Australia crumbled against the spin duo and failed to score a competitive total. Australia got bowled out for 113 runs and gave India 115 run target to win the match. India eventually won the match by six wickets as Captain Rohit Sharma, Cheteshawar Pujara and KS Bharat played firey knocks. Meanwhile, former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir slammed Australia for playing bad shots in the match.
During a discussion on Star Sports, Gambhir said, “Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin were the biggest threats, and Australia also knew that, but the way they batted was embarrassing. You don’t expect this from the World’s No. 1 team. An under-16 player will also not play such shots, the sort of shots the Australian batters played on this pitch.”
He further questioned the approach of Aussie batters and said, “Why did you have to play the sweep? I have seen such a brain fade very few times in international cricket. You might get out while defending or because of a technical flaw, but they come after telling in the dressing room which shots you can and cannot play on this pitch.”
KL Rahul retained in India’s Test squad despite poor form
Star India batter KL Rahul who is struggling with poor form in the longest format of the game has been named in India’s ODI squad against Australia. Although pacer Jasprit Bumrah doesn’t see any return into the squad. On the other hand, India skipper Rohit Sharma will miss the first ODI due to family commitments and Hardik Pandya will lead the team.
Here is the squad:
Squad for last two Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, S Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, R Jadeja, Mohd Shami, Mohd Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.
Squad for three-match ODI series: Rohit Sharma (C), S Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), R Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, W Sundar, Y Chahal, Mohd Shami, Mohd Siraj, Umran Malik, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Jaydev Unadkat
