The Indian captain of the longest format of the game, Rohit Sharma, has admitted that they had been completely outplayed by the opponent Australian side in their 10-wicket defeat during the second of the five-match series of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 at the Adelaide Oval.
Rohit Sharma, on winning the toss, decided to bat first, as the management made a crucial change in the playing eleven by bringing back their veteran spin all-rounder, Ravichandran Ashwin, into the side in place of Washington Sundar. But, their poor batting performance in both innings, where they were bundled out for 180 and 175, respectively.
The captain, on his return, has struggled badly against the swing and seam of the pink ball under the floodlights. The 36-year-old wasn’t up to the mark either in his leadership skills. The wayward bowling from the Indian pacers, especially against Travis Head, who smashed 140 runs in 141 deliveries, also worked against them in delivering a 150-odd run lead in the first innings.
Rohit Sharma looks forward to making an impressive return in Brisbane
This is the first day-night Test for the Rohit Sharma-led side since they were bundled out for 36 in the previous instance during the BGT 2020-21. With the BCCI not focusing on the domestic circuit for the pink-ball games, it has become hard for the players to cope with the situation.
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Rishabh Pant and Nitish Reddy, walking out with the bat, disclosed their aggressive batting as they nailed a few big shots against the Australia bowlers, but couldn’t last long.
“Disappointing week for us. We didn’t play well enough to win the game, and Australia played better than us. There were times in the game where we could have grabbed those opportunities, but we failed to do that, and that has cost us the game.” Rohit Sharma described at the post-match press conference.
The left-arm pacer, Mitchell Starc, collected the wicket of Rishabh Pant, who edged it into the hands of Steve Smith in the slip corridor before wickets kept on falling one after another. This is now the fourth shortest completed Test in Australia in terms of balls being bowled, while the shortest ever in the history of India and Australia Test matches.
When the 36-year-old was out of the opening Test due to paternity leave for the birth of his second child, Jasprit Bumrah handled the responsibility of the team, where they showed incredible performance with both bat and ball to grab the 295-run victory at the Optus Stadium.
“Yeah absolutely, I mean, look you know what we did in Perth was very special, and we wanted to come out here and do that again, but again we know that every Test match has its challenge. We knew it was going to be challenging with the pink ball, but again, like I said, you know Australia was better than us.” Rohit Sharma addressed in the presser.
The defeat has also slipped India into the third position of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle, as Australia retains its top place. A victory for South Africa against Sri Lanka in the ongoing Test could change the table again.
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Rohit Sharma accepts the challenge for the second Test at the Gabba in Brisbane, which will start on December 14.
“Yeah, we’re quite looking forward to it. There’s not much time in between as well. You know, we just want to go out there and think about what we did right, you know, in Perth, and also what we did last time when we were here.” Rohit Sharma concluded.