Former Indian cricketer Pragyan Ojha was disappointed with the fact that one bad session has resulted in India suffering a massive defeat of 8 wickets against Australia in the first Day-Night Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Adelaide on Saturday (December 19).
Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team dominated the first two days of the game but things completely turned against the tourists in the first session on Day 3, as Josh Hazlewood (5/8) and Pat Cummins (4/21) wrecked havoc on the famed batting line-up to bowl them out for 36 in their second innings.
Team India resumed Day 3 at 9 for 1 but then suffered a horrific batting collapse as they went on to post their lowest-ever total in Test cricket after finishing their second innings at 36/9 against Australia in the first Day-Night Test at Adelaide Oval.
Chasing the target of 90, Joe Burns’ half-century took Australia past the line at the expense of just 2 wickets as the hosts took a 1-0 lead in the four-match Test series against India.
Ojha credited the Australian bowlers for their incredible bowling but felt for India, saying this has been very unfortunate that the one bad session costed them the Adelaide Test.
Ojha said on Sports Today: “After watching Day 2 I was really excited. You always feel as a cricket fan, you take pride when India does well. But credit goes to Australian seamers for the way they bowled. They were prepared to concede boundaries but their plan was to make our batsmen play every ball.”
He further added, “The extra movement provided by the new pink ball has costed us, and I thought few shots were half-hearted. But this has been very unfortunate, after having good control in the last couple of days... Just in one session, things have turned against us.”
Noteworthy, Australia and India will now head to Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test starting December 26 at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
(With India Today Inputs)
