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. All three test matches ended on Day 3 from Nagpur to Delhi and now Indore.
Former cricketers and fans started criticising Indian cricket team management after their loss at the Indore match. Ian Chappell in the fresh row stated that team India should not forget their last two test series victory in Australia.
Chappell also mentioned that drastic changes in the Australian camp as Steve Smith led the side-
“Have India forgotten that they won the last two Test series in Australia? What the hell the administrators, players, coaches, or anybody outside the curator (were doing?). What the hell are they having an input into the pitch for?” said the former Australian skipper.
Men in Blue have already retained the BGT with emphatic victories in Nagpur and Delhi. The Asian side is undefeated in the BGT since 2017, and after that period they won back-to-back series in the 2018-19 and 2020-21 editions in Australia.
The Third test of BGT saw 14 wickets getting lost on the Day 1 of the game with the ball keeping low from the initial 10 overs. The surface in Indore offered a sharp turn and uneven bounce to exacerbate the run-scoring pattern that was the case in Nagpur and Delhi, visitors lost nine wickets on the morning session of day 3 of the second game in BGT.
“The key to it in my opinion was bowling India out cheaply in the first innings. Once they did that, they got themselves a chance to a decent lead. It wasn’t a huge lead but on this pitch a pretty useful one. And then in the second innings only having to chase a low score,” he further added.
The pitch has been a talking factor whenever the Indian team plays at home conditions. Rohit Sharma speaking to the media after the match said that the talk about the pitch is too much and said that it is important to talk about the players who played well in the match.
“That was ridiculous (on dropping Travis Head in Nagpur Test). It was a non-selection stupidity that was. At least the Australians have seen the error in their ways. India needs to see the error in their ways. Talking about trying to prepare pitches that suit India,” concluded the cricketer cum commentator.
On day 3 of the Indore Test, the visitors needed 76 runs to win the game, which they chased down easily. While India was bowled out for 163 runs in the second innings on day 2. Men in Blue now has the 2-1 lead in the four-test match series, and the home side needs to win the last game to qualify for the WTC Final in England.