Team India scripted a memorable win over Australia in the first Test of the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Saturday. After Rohit Sharma's blistering ton, followed by Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja's knocks of 84 and 70, gave India a lead of 223 runs over Australia, the Pat Cummins-led side was bowled out for 91 as the hosts claimed a win by an innings and 132 runs. The Rohit Sharma-led side has been receiving a lot of praise from the fans and former cricketers after the historic win and veteran India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik feels that Australia need to work on their skills in order to make a powerful comeback in the four-match series, just like India did in the 2020-21 edition of the series.
"They got to go back and plan how that how are they going to defend balls that are being attacked on, especially at the stumps. They are probably looking at the turns and missing out on the straight ones. They should rather play for the straight ones a lot more and get nicked off than try the other way round. They need to back their skills, whatever they have, it had given them a lot of success in Australia and one bad game does not make them a bad team," said Karthik on Cricbuzz.
"They are a team with some world-class players. We remember when India toured Australia, they were demolished in the first Test in Adelaide and lost by an innings. That's what exactly happened to Australia. But the Indian team found a way to dig deep, fight the way through the injuries in the last BGT series. This one is a challenge for Australia and I am sure that the kind of character they have, they will dig deep and find the answers of the questions the Indian bowlers are throwing at them," he added.
Team India was bundled out for 36 during the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the 2020-21 edition in Australia and lost the match by an innings. However, they made a massive comeback and clinched the series 2-1.
Coming to this match, spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja eviscerated Australia in just over two hours to hand India a crushing innings-and-132-run victory Saturday inside three days of the opening Test.
The hosts took a commanding first-innings lead of 223 in Nagpur, then skittled out Australia for 91 in an extended second session to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.
With AFP Inputs