Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar said it's unfair to blame Indian batsmen for their record-breaking collapse saying it was obvious thanks to superb bowling by the Australian bowlers in the first Day-Night Test at Adelaide Oval on Saturday (December 19).
On Day 3 of the Pink-ball Test on Saturday, Team India suffered a dramatic collapse – from 9 for 1 to 36 all out – their lowest Test total after rampant bowling by Josh Hazlewood (5/8) and Pat Cummins (4/21) as none of the tourists’ batsmen could get to a double-digit score in the second innings.
India lost 8 wickets for 27 runs before Mohammed Shami retired hurt on 1 as Australia chase down the target of 90 with 8 wickets in hand to take a 1-0 lead in the ongoing Test series.
After the Indian cricket team’s humiliating defeat in Adelaide, Gavaskar said there is no point in blaming India for their disastrous batting against Australia, saying no one team in the world would have crossed 80-90 against such a quality fast-bowling attack.
Gavaskar told Channel 7: “I mean, any team that is all-out for its lowest test score since the time it started playing cricket, that's never good to see. But having said that, if any other team had been facing that kind of bowling, they would have also got out, maybe be not all-out for 36, maybe 72 or 80-90.”
He added, “But the way Hazelwood, Cummins bowled and the earlier 3-over spell from Starc, they asked a lot of questions. So it's not fair to blame the Indian batsmen for the way they got out because it was just simply superb bowling by the Australian bowlers.”
“When you face bowling of that quality, with that line and length, it’s very difficult to score runs and that’s what happened to the Indians today.”
Gavaskar was part of the Indian team which held the record (42) for the lowest total previously, when Mike Denness' England beat India by an innings and 285 runs at Lord's in 1974.
“In the same way as in 1974, overcast conditions at Lord’s with the ball swinging around, none of us got out playing bad shots, we were all trapped lbw or caught behind. I have to say, but for that classy five I got, they would never have reached 42,” recalled the former Indian captain.
(With Reuters / Channel 7 Inputs)
