Australia won the third test match of Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023 at Indore by nine wickets, India now has a lead of 2-1 against the visitors. Aussies have qualified for the World Test Championship (WTC) final after avoiding a clean sweep in the four-match series. Cheteshwar Pujara came up with one of his finest knocks in Test cricket at the Holkar Stadium in Indore.
The Indian skipper was seen sending a message to Pujara while he was batting on Day 2 of the third test match. In the post-match press conference, Rohit Sharma refused to reveal the details of the message he sent out to the ace Indian batter during his fighting knock.
At a press conference, the Indian captain was asked about the message he sent to Pujara on Day 2 of the Test-
“That’s quite personal. Very very personal stuff. It was nothing to do with the game. It was very personal talk. If it was a tactical thing I would have told you definitely, but it was something very personal,” replied Sharma.
While, in the second innings of the Indore Test match, the likes of Shubman Gill (5), Rohit Sharma (12), Virat Kohli (13) and others failed to score big on the turning track. Cheteshwar Pujara, however, stood firm at one end and ensured that India wipe out the lead. He went on to complete a fighting fifty.
When Pujara was batting in the middle on Day 2, Rohit was seen in an animated conversation with Ishan Kishan after which Ishan ran out on the field and delivered a message to the 35-year-old. With a quick turn of the events, the batter stepped out and slammed Nathan Lyon for a six.
Rohit Sharma – Jake Pujara bol kya tuk tuk khel raha hai ?#INDvsAUSTestpic.twitter.com/TtrIDJbcju
— VECTOR⁴⁵?️ (@Vector_45R) March 2, 2023
“When you are playing on pitches like these, you need a Shreyas Iyer kind of an innings. Someone has to step up, someone has to take down the bowlers. It cannot be always that the batters will get 100 runs, 90 runs or 80 runs. You have to play cameos like that,” said Indian skipper on Shreyas Iyer’s performance.
Iyer played an attacking knock of 26 runs while batting at No.6. in the second innings, he was dismissed for a duck while batting in the same position during the first innings.
“If one of the top batters can get a big score, that’s a plus. But, when you know the pitch has some offering, there is a challenge, you need guys to go out there and play the way Iyer did,” he further added.
The one wicket which was taken by the Aussies pacer in the third test match was of Shreyas, Mitchell Starc got him out in the second innings by Usman Khawaja taking a splendid catch.
“He was a little unfortunate. He timed the ball really well and (Usman) Khawaja took a very good catch. You need that kind of innings,” concluded Rohit on Iyer’s performance.
On day 3 of the Indore Test, the visitors needed 76 runs to win the game, which they chased down easily. While India was bowled out for 163 runs in the second innings on day 2. Men in Blue now has the 2-1 lead in the four-test match series, and the home side needs to win the last game to qualify for the WTC Final in England.