Last Update: March 03, 2023, 12:46 PM IST
Rohit Sharma feels India were not brave enough with the bat. (AP Photo)
India were bowled out for 109 in their first innings and did better in the second, finishing with 163-all out
India were bested by Australia at their game, registering a stunning nine-wicket win in the Border Gavaskar Trophy Test at Indore in just two days. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma attributed the defeat to the failure of the batsmen on a difficult pitch which shattered hopes of a clean sweep.
India won a good toss but failed to capitalize on their team being bowled out for just 109 runs in 34 overs in the first innings. Had it not been for an Australian collapse, they would have been looking at a sizeable deficit to bridge, but a lead of 88 was still sufficient by the tourists, who made 197-all out in reply.
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India were expected to put up a much better show with the bat but this time too, they managed just 167 runs and this was largely due to Cheteshwar Pujara’s half-century. Others, simply broke down for the spinners.
Rohit said during the post-match presentation, “There were many things that did not go in our favor.” Board in the first innings and when they got a lead of 80-90 runs, we had to build another innings with the bat but we couldn’t do that again. We got just 75 runs on the board. If we had batted well in the first innings, things would have been a little different.”
Nathan Lyon took eight wickets in the second innings to limit India’s lead and Rohit acknowledged the offspinner for his outstanding performance.
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“Don’t take any credit from your bowlers. Especially Nathan Lyon, he kept challenging us to hit the right lengths. When the bowler is trying to do that, one has to be a bit brave which I thought we weren’t,” Rohit said.
However, the 35-year-old pointed to the performance of his batsmen in the first two Tests.
Things are like that, but we can take a lot of credit for the way we batted in the first two games. It is about everyone coming together and working. We want some people to stand up and raise their hands to take the team forward. You will falter in your plans and that’s what happened in this game, we didn’t bowl the way we wanted to,” Rohit said.
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