IND VS AUS: The Indian team almost fielded for two days after Australia were bowled out for 480 runs in their first innings. Team India needs to win this match for surety of qualification to the World Test Championship (WTC) final, meanwhile, the Aussies have already qualified for the WTC Final in England after avoiding a clean sweep in the series.
Former Indian head coach, Ravi Shastri was asked about the selection of Axar Patel ahead of Kuldeep Yadav for the fourth test match, Shastri defended Axar’s selection by saying if he wouldn’t be there, India would not win the first two test matches of Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023.
Dinesh Karthik asked Shastri about Patel’s selection, and he replied-
“Very early. But if it wouldn’t have been for Axar’s batting, this series would’ve looked a lot different. India wanted strength in their batting and they got it. Had it not been for his innings in Delhi, India wouldn’t have been able to be 2-0. And his innings in Nagpur,” said former Indian cricketer.
The left-handed batter is in the second spot in India’s top run-getter in the series list, behind Rohit Sharma. Axar scored 84 in the first innings of the Nagpur Test, the Indian side winning by an inning and 132 runs, whereas his 74 against the fall of wickets in the first innings of the Delhi Test, Asian giants went on to win the match by six wickets and retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023 for a fourth time in a row.
While the left-arm spinner, only picked up two wickets in the 69 overs he bowled in the series.
Axar Patel strikes!
Gets the big wicket of Usman Khawaja, who is trapped LBW.
Khawaja departs after a fine knock of 180 runs.
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“You couldn’t have used him previously (in the series). Because the ball was turning. Then Ashwin and Jadeja become your primary bowlers. But here, you need him. And he’s done the containing job well,” he further added.
Kuldeep picked 8 wickets in his last Test against Bangladesh in December 2022 but was surprisingly benched for the 2nd Test despite getting player of the match in the 1st Test. His career-best figure of 5/40 also came during that Test. He has so far picked 34 scalps in only 8 Tests averaging only 21.56. Since February 2019, he has featured in only 2 longer formats of the game.
At the end of Day 2, India was 36/0 in 10 overs, while Australia was bowled out for 480 runs.