The last three weeks haven’t been healthy for India as they faced a rare series defeat in the longest format of the game at home, and that was also by a 0-3 clean sweep margin. The Rohit Sharma-led side faced their very first series defeat in their own conditions since losing to England in the 2012/13 season. That has also been the home Test series whitewash for them since losing to South Africa by a 0-2 margin in 1999-’00.
The Indian captain has collected 91 runs in six innings at a very poor average of around 15 thanks to just one solitary half-century, while the former captain, Virat Kohli, notched up 93 runs in six innings at an average of 15.50 in the same manner. Both of them struggled against the spinners of the opponent side badly.
Going to Australia, India has found themselves confident on the back of the series defeat at home and an equation of winning four out of their last five encounters to qualify for the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2024-25.
Against New Zealand, the Blue Brigade was destroyed before the pace and bounce of the fast bowling of the visiting side at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where they were bundled out for just 46 runs, their third-lowest innings total in the contest. Even though they displayed some character in the second innings as their batters made a decent return in form, it was never enough to save them from the 36-year-old record being broken.
Pragyan Ojha expects mind games from Australia against India In BGT 2024-25
This defeat meant that the Indian management would be putting a slow and low turner for the second encounter at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, where India was asked to bat second after losing the toss. The field placement of the Indian captain was quite defensive against the new batters and was never allowed to put constant pressure on the visitors.
The poor batting performance in both innings for India meant they were always behind the Tom Latham-led side from the beginning of the game and weren’t able to get the momentum. In Mumbai, for the final game of the series, India bowled better and even earned a slight lead at the end of the first innings of their batting. Another decent performance with the ball in the second innings saw them getting a target of 147 runs in the fourth innings.
Apart from Rishabh Pant, who smashed the ball around the park in a consistent manner in the fourth innings, none of the batters were able to stand in the middle for a decent amount of time. The top order vanished inside seven overs, and eventually, they lost the game by 25 runs.
The former left-arm spinner of the Blue Brigade, Pragyan Ojha, predicted that Australia would be playing mind games with the Indian team and making them remember the home series defeat all the time.
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“This Australia series will be very important for both of them. If they find form there, then India will feel a little bit comfortable. Because Down Under, I feel the way they are preparing, Australia won’t make it easy for them. Especially, when they know that India is coming on the back of losing a home series and that to a whitewash, Australia are ahead in mind games and make good use of it.” The Bengal-spinner reckoned during a discussion on Cricbuzz.
“They will do everything to unsettle India in Australia. They have twice lost at home, so they will look to avenge those defeats. The situation couldn’t get better for Australia because senior Indian players are not scoring runs.” The veteran concluded.