Australia won the third test match of Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023 at Indore by nine wickets, India now has a lead of 2-1 against the visitors. Aussies have qualified for the World Test Championship (WTC) final after avoiding a clean sweep in the four-match series.
The Baggy Greens’ regular skipper Pat Cummins was unavailable for the Indore Test match due to his mother’s Illness, so, Steve Smith was leading the side.
Smith said he did a reasonable job in the absence of the regular skipper-
“Everything I guess (on what he attributes the win to). The first day losing the toss, having to bowl first.. Our bowlers got the ball in the right areas and put India under pressure. I thought Kuhnemann was really good on the first day,” said Australia’s ace batter.
“All our bowlers contributed and bowled in partnerships, first innings Usman was outstanding and he’s been really good for us this series. Yesterday India fought back and I thought we had to toil really hard, Puji played an outstanding innings but we really stuck at it, Nathan got all the rewards with 8 wickets but I think our bowlers as a collective were really good,” he further added.
Steve Smith was the captain when Australia last toured India for a Test series in 2017. He had led his team to a win in the first Test although the visitors went on to lose the series by 2-1. The right-handed batsman had enjoyed a stunning series with the bat, finishing the 4-match series as the highest run-scorer.
“It was a complete performance. We are thinking about Patty, who’s gone back home, our thoughts are with him. I really enjoyed it and like captaining in this part of the world as I understand the conditions really well,” said Smith.
After the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, Smith was stripped of the captaincy and banned from leading Aussies for two years.
“There’s an event every ball and a lot different to the other parts of the world, and I did a reasonable job this week. Much the same, we will wait and see what the conditions are like, but we are really proud to clinch a spot in the WTC final. Hopefully, we can put a similar performance and draw the series,” concluded the middle-order batter.
'Nobody else is catching that!'
Nathan Lyon heaped praise on Steve Smith after his incredible leg-slip blinder to remove the dangerous Cheteshwar Pujara in 'massive' moment late on day two #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/DepxCKj0Tf
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) March 2, 2023
While, in the third match of BGT, India opted to bat first against Steve Smith-led side at Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore.
The home side made two changes in the third game of BGT, Shubman Gill and Umesh Yadav replaced KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami, while in the Baggy Greens playing XI, Mitchell Starc and Cameoon Green came in the place of Pat Cummins and Matt Renshaw.
Australia beat India by nine wickets and reached the WTC Final 2023, by avoiding a clean sweep in the series. Earlier, in the game, the visitors needed 76 runs to win the third Test match at Indore on day 3, while India was bowled out for 163 runs in the second innings on day 2.
On day 1, India managed to score 109 runs, while the Australian was bowled out at 197 before lunch on the second day. The home side needs to win the fourth test match at Ahmedabad to qualify for the WTC final in England.