It was just a matter of a few hours and an array of reckless shots for Australia to lose a game comfortably under their control. The visitors went strong with a 62 runs lead as the third day began started sweeping around the Indian tweakers losing their wickets deck of cards at mere 115 runs which was too easy for the Indians to chase and eventually win the match.
Looking back at the loss the thing that caught everybody’s attention was the Aussies’ strategy of attempting the reverse sweeps and sweeps even by experienced batters like Steven Smith who isn’t quite known for the same, attempting to risk their innings without much of a need.
“Pressure does strange things”-Michael Di Venuto
“Plans certainly weren’t wrong. We were almost ahead of the game, and the feeling just looking at it was ‘geez, if we just get another 50 runs real quick’ which you can’t do in this country. But pressure does strange things and we saw a lot of people go out and try and sweep their way to a score. It’s not all doom and gloom, but the 90 minutes of batting certainly wasn’t anything special,” said Michael Di Venuto.
“I haven’t spoken to him (Steven Smith) yet about that, and where he’s at. But he’s excited about these conditions, he loves these conditions. It will be a frustrating thing for him at the moment that he hasn’t had the impact he would have liked. He was certainly disappointed when he got out, and he made it known in the dressing room it was a poor shot. I think most people would have heard that, so they should have had a fair idea of what not to do.” he added.
Fraction of Hope for the visitors
Much to their dismay, following the two disappointing losses in the previous tests, the Aussies dream of taking away the Border-Gavaskar has once again fallen to the dirt. However, the Kangaroos had come high on momentum convincingly beating Pakistan, South Africa, and West Indies in the series.
Having already qualified for the World Test Finals, pushing for a level the series would be all they wish for looking at the bigger picture the year also features the Ashes, given that their records outside the home are concerning.
The two teams will go head to head on March 1 in Indore.
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