India captain Rohit Sharma became only the second skipper to win his first four Tests after MS Dhoni, as India won the second match against Australia in Delhi by 6 wickets and went 2-0 up in the four-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
With Australia having set themselves up well after ending day two on 61/1 in 10 or so overs, it was expected that the teams and the spectators would have an interesting day of cricket.
Ravindra Jadeja and R. Ashwin appeared to have a field day as the Australian batsmen' thinking appeared to have changed overnight; instead of utilizing their feet to counter the spin, they started sweeping anything in their path.
While Matt Renshaw hit two runs, Peter Handscomb made zero, Alex Carey tripped while attempting a reverse sweep, and skipper Pat Cummins was out for a golden duck to Ravindra Jadeja, they destroyed the middle and lower order.
Only Travis Head (43) and Marnus Labuschagne (35) got into double figures as Australia was shot out for 113 runs and set India a target of 115 runs. Ravindra Jadeja had picked 7/42, his best bowling figures in Test cricket, bettering his previous best of 7/48 against England in 2016. R Ashwin picked 3/59.
India achieved this target with 6 wickets in hand with Rohit Sharma (31) and Cheteshwar Pujara (31*) leading the way. The Indian team went 2-0 up in the series and also retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 for a record third time.
After the match, Rohit Sharma was praiseful of his bowlers and said: “Fantastic result for us. Looking at how things were yesterday, the way we came back and finished our job was great. Even if we were just one run behind, I felt we were trailing because we had to bat last. I think the bowlers were fantastic, to take 9 wickets today morning is commendable. And then we finished the job with the bat. On a pitch like this, people need to do something different. We were prepared for them coming out and playing shots.
Our idea was to not panic and just hit the right areas, waiting for the mistake to happen and that's exactly what happened. Every game you play in this type of weather, there is some moisture. What I noticed is there is a lot to offer in the first session, but as it goes on it gets slower and there isn't enough bite. So our focus was keeping it tight in the morning, and these guys are the masters of bowling in these conditions.”
He was also asked about the game changing moments in the Test as well.
Rohit said: “There are lot of moments across four innings, but I thought the partnership between Jadeja and Virat, and then Axar-Ash was brilliant. I think that's a big help because of the balance we have created for ourselves.”
India now needs one more win to qualify for the WTC 2023 final and the third Test will be played in Indore from March 1 onwards.
(Star Sports inputs)
