Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma. Image Credits: Twitter

Indian team is eyeing a 3-0 lead against Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023. Men in Blue needs to win at least three matches in four-match series to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final. Rohit Sharma was dismissed by Matthew Kuhnemann for 12 runs on the sixth over of the first day of the morning session.

Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma. Image Credits: Twitter

Matthew Hayden criticised the Indian skipper for his dismissal along with Sanjay Manjrekar-

“I think there are some forgettable shots, no doubt about it. Rohit Sharma – and I’ve always said this about Test match cricket – the captain leads from the front. So that dismissal is something he will look back and think – Maybe I was a little lazy, maybe I was a little apprehensive,” said former Australian opener.

Rohit Sharma in the first over of the morning session survives two incidents against Mitchell Starc bowling, where he was clearly out. Steve Smith-led side rather opted to not take DRS on both incidents.

“Winning the toss, you want to make a big impression, want to enforce that dominance onto Australia, who are depleted. They don’t have their captain, they don’t have David Warner. Lots to lose for them, including not being in that Test Championship [final]. I think [there was] maybe a little bit of complacency mixed with a little bit of arrogancy as well,” he further added.

The 35 year, however, wasn’t able to make the most of the two lifelines and got out for 12 runs, he danced down the pitch to hit Matthew Kuhnemann’s delivery in the sixth over of the Indian inning and was stumped.

“Spot on. A lot of that was seen in the way Rohit Sharma played. He was out twice – the reviews weren’t taken – and then he was out the third time. So it was a Rohit Sharma who came out with the hangover of the earlier two Test matches’ dominance. He didn’t start from ball one. There was a bit of arrogance there,” said Manjrekar.

Earlier, India opted to bat first against Steve Smith-led side at Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore.

The home side made two changes in the third game of BGT, Shubman Gill and Umesh Yadav replace KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami, while in the Baggy Greens playing XI, Mitchell Starc and Cameoon Green came in the place of Pat Cummins and Matt Renshaw. At the lunch on day 2, India was bowled out for 109 runs, while the Aussies managed 197 runs. In the second innings, India was 13/0.