Australia’s cricket team is the toughest competitor of the team India. The four-match Test series between the two countries has now become a battlefield to prove their dominance in the cricket world. Indian Test cricketers Chetestwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin recounted the most competitive Test match against Australia.
Australia is the strongest country and they have proved their dominance around the world. Whereas India dominates in the sub-continent and it is tough to beat them in the home soil. But Australia under Steve Smith had given them a tough fight, unlike other countries.
On Wednesday (29th April), during the live session, Ashwin and Pujara recalled the blistering 2017 Bengaluru Test match win against Australia, levelling the series with 1-1.
Australia had already won the first Test match by a whopping 333 runs. It was important for India to win the second Test match, which was scheduled in Bengaluru, to be alive in the four-match Test series. But the spinner Nathan Lyon ended the hope of India’s win in the first innings. He went on to pick eight wickets and India was all out for 189 runs in the first innings.
Australia posted 276 runs in their first innings and sealed an 87-run lead. The visitors had a big chance to win the game.
In reply, Indian batsmen showed strong batting performances as KL Rahul (51), Cheteshwar Pujara (92) and Ajinkya Rahane (52) shined with the bat, and India scored 274 runs. Australia had to score 188 runs to win the Test match but it didn’t go easy for them. The spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bulldozed the visitor’s batting line up.
Ashwin and Pujara, during the discussion in live chat, revealed how Steve Smith-led Australian team was sledging the Indian team as if they have won the series.
Australians were sledging me as if they had won the game: Cheteshwar Pujara
For me, I think the first Test match… when we lost, all of us sat together and had a chat. In a 4-Test series, it’s always difficult to make a comeback after being 1-0 down,” Pujara said.
“In the 1st innings (Bengaluru Test), we didn’t bat well. So when I was walking into it, I felt a lot of pressure. But after the 1st innings, Anil bhai (Kumble) had a chat with me on how to tackle Nathan Lyon. I went to the NCA and worked on a few things which helped me.
“But I felt pressure when I walked into a bat (2nd innings). The kind of sledging they did… I thought they were a little ahead of what they wanted to achieve. Their thought process was… they felt they had already won the game.
“By Teatime, I was with Ajinkya (Rahane), we were coming into the dressing room and they were sledging as if they had won the game. That is when things did turn around, I felt.”
Further, Ashwin also recalled the exchanged of words with the opener Matt Renshaw. In the end, India won the match by 75 runs and later they won the Test series by 2-1 after winning the last Test match of the series in Dharamshala.