Team India suffered a nine-wicket defeat at the hands of Australia in the third Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at Holkar Stadium, Indore on Friday (March 3).
On a turning track, India’s batting line-up fell like a pack of cards in both innings. The visitors were set a 76-run target to win the third Test and they didn’t break a sweat to overhaul it in the morning session on Day 3.
While the Aussies lost Usman Khawaja on the second delivery of the day, the duo of Travis Head (49*) and Marnus Labuschagne (28*) ensured there were no more hiccups and took the tourists over the line.
After the game, veteran India cricketer-turned-commentator Dinesh Karthik pointed out that the change of ball worked in favour of the tourists in the first session on Day 3.
Notably, Head and Labuschagne were finding it tough against the Indian spinners before a ball change in the 11th over made them comfortable and they hit flurry of boundaries to put pressure back on the home team.
"Ashwin is a momentum bowler, when he gets a wicket, he generally adds two-three in his spell. Ashwin after that first wicket bowled a lot of balls that troubled Head," Karthik told Cricbuzz.
"Ashwin bowled really well in the first 10 overs, kept good length, but the moment they changed that ball, they were not happy with the ball, probably the stitches had given a little way near the leather," he explained.
With Australia 13/1 after 10 overs, some issue was detected in the ball near the seam and it had to be changed. In the very next over, Travis Head, who was on 5 off 22 balls, smashed R Ashwin for a boundary and a six to take the game away from India.
"The changed ball made a lot of difference. It was not as hard as they expected. Probably, it didn't have the bite the ball could have had if it was harder. From then on things just turned completely Australia's way."
Ashwin conceded 13 runs in the 11th over and Karthik termed it a "critical" juncture of the match.
"It was critical over in the sense he gave away two loose balls a bit fuller and from that moment Travis Head didn't look back. He said that's it, I'm on the charge now. I feel good, my defence is coming well. You make a small error and the batter pounces on it."
"Yes, you're chasing a low target, so pressure was different. But Head made sure the moment he got those boundaries, he didn't look back," he said.
India still lead the four-match series 2-1 with one Test to go in Ahmedabad, which the hosts will need to win to reach the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
