"Was Carrying Hangover": Ex-India Star Critical Of Rohit Sharma And Co After Indore Test Loss
India vs Australia: Guests Australia bounced back in the third Test match with a 9-wicket win over India in Indore.
Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar feels that the Indian team lost the third Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia as it was in the hangover of its dominance in the series by then. It is worth noting that the Indian team outplayed the guests in the first two Tests of the four-match series. The Rohit Sharma-led side won the first game by an innings and 132 runs in Nagpur before it registered a 6-wicket victory in New Delhi. However, Australia bounced back in the third game and defeated India by 9 wickets in Indore.
"I got the impression that India was carrying the hangover of the dominance that they had in the series so far. They won the toss and batted first for the first time," said Sanjay Manjrekar on Star Sports.
In the first two games, Australia skipper Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to bat first. Rohit Sharma's luck saw a change in the third game when the tossed coin landed in his favour. The Indian skipper decided to bat first against Australia, who was then led by Steve Smith in Cummins' absence.
Manjrekar feels that India failed to plan their first innings properly and that cost them the match.
"So immediately the onus was on them to call the shots in the game and I thought they were just trying to dominate a bit too early and didn't suss the pitch out. So too many attacking shots under the assumption that they knew the pitch and that is where I guess where India faltered", he further added.
India were bundled out for 109 runs in their first innings before Australia scored 197 runs and took an 88-run first innings lead. In their second innings, the hosts were bowled out for 163 runs. The Smith-led side comfortably chased down the target with 9 wickets in hand.
India Cricket Team
Australia Cricket Team
Rohit Sharma