Australia could not stand before Indian spin attack in Nagpur Test and Delhi Test. But they took it on them to turn the tide and make spin their strength which is actually India’s strength. Indian batsmen did not have enough answers to negate spin of Nathan Lyon in the second innings. Australia found Mitchell Starc to be a great inclusion as he put India on backfoot by almost dismissing Rohit Sharma in the first over of the match. They did not go for DRS, otherwise, India might have looked at even lower score in the first innings. Australia played Indian spinners better for the rest of first day.
Usman Khawaja scored 60 to help Australia reach 197. The 88-run lead on this dry and dusty pitch proved to be costly. India found hard to score or even stay at the wicket against Nathan Lyon. He kept probing them and many batsmen did not find a way to adjust to the bounce. Cheteswar Pujara showed some grit to score 59 runs off 142 balls. First Test batting heroes – Ravichandran Ashwin (16), Axar Patel (15) could not do much against Australia Great Off-break Spinner, Nathan Lyon.
Nathan Lyon took 8/64 in the second innings and limited India to 163 runs. Australia have only 76 runs target to get their first win of BGT 2023. India has already 2 Tests in 4 Test series so they cannot lose the series but winning by 3-1 will only confirm their place in World Test Championship Finals. India needs a miracle to win on 3rd Day and Indore Test, that is collapsing Australia under 75. Let’s wait and see.
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