Under the leadership of Steve Smith, Australia pulled off an emphatic nine-wicket victory over India in the third Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore on Friday (March 3).
The visitors were in the driver’s seat from the opening day itself as they bowled out India for 109 before taking a significant first-innings lead of 88 runs.
India’s second innings folded for 163 and the hosts only managed to set a 76-run target, which the Aussies chased down without breaking a sweat on Day 3 of the Test match.
After the game, Steve Smith patted himself on the back, saying he has done an “incredible job” as a stand-in skipper.
Notably, Smith got an opportunity to lead Australia in Indore after regular skipper Pat Cummins flew back home after the second Test to attend his ailing mother.
“I really enjoyed it and like captaining in this part of the world as I understand the conditions really well,” Smith told the broadcasters.
“There’s an event every ball and a lot different to the other parts of the world, and I did a reasonable job this week.”
Reflecting on the victory, Smith said everything went his way including the toss he lost.
“I think obviously that first day, losing the toss and having to bowl first. But our bowlers did really well, especially Kuhnemann. All our bowlers contributed. With the bat, Usman was really good in the first innings. We had some good partnerships,” he stated.
Smith admitted that they had toiled hard on Day 2 after a batting collapse and the way Cheteshwar Pujara batted for India in the second dig.
“India bowled really well in the back end, we had a bit of a collapse. We had to toil hard yesterday, Pujji played a good knock, but all our bowlers did really well. It was a complete performance in the end,” he said.
With this victory, Australia sealed their World Test Championship final spot.
“It’s good to be in the WTC final but it’s just about playing good cricket. Hopefully we can finish the series well.”
India still lead the four-match series 2-1 with one Test to go in Ahmedabad, which the hosts will have to win to book a place in the WTC final.
