3 things India needs to correct ahead of 4th Test
Team India, led by Rohit Sharma, received an absolute hammering at the hands of the Australians in the third Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT). The visitors, led by Steve Smith, put up a brilliant bowling performance in the first innings to bowl India out for a paltry score of 109 in the first innings.
Australia scored 197 runs in the second innings to gain a massive lead of 88 runs on a pitch that was misbehaving a lot. India were once again poor in their second innings, managing to score only 163 runs. Australia, requiring 76 runs in the last innings, got there with 9 wickets in hand, earning their first win of the series.
India still lead the series 2-1 but there are a lot of issues that India need to address ahead of the fourth Test in Ahmedabad. Here's a look at three things that India needs to correct ahead of the final game.
#1 Batting woes
India's batters failing to put up good performances has now become a trend. Barring the first innings in Nagpur, skipper Rohit Sharma has had a quiet series. Shubman Gill, who replaced the out-of-sorts KL Rahul, also failed to notch a score of substance in Indore. Cheteshwar Pujara has only one fifty to his name in the series, while Virat Kohli is yet to make even one.
India's batters have consistently been found wanting in testing conditions, both at home and overseas. It was the collective failure of the batting group that let India down in the Indore Test match. Perhaps what camouflaged the batting group in the first two tests are the lower order's contributions and the brilliance of the spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
India also won the first two tests because of which too many questions were not asked of the batters. However, it is crucial that the batters take an initiative in the fourth Test and put up a good showing for India to win the series.
#2 Pitch
Biggest takeaway from this game is something you already knew. Om normal turning tracks, India are very difficult to beat. But exaggerated tracks equalise skills and give the other team a chance.
The Indians prepared a pitch that offered a turn right from the first session on Day 1 and the decision backfired big time as the Indians were bowled out for 109 on the first day itself. The pitch did not really offer a healthy balance between bat and ball, which was evident from the fact that the highest individual score during the game was 60 by Usman Khawaja.
India needs to be careful with the kind of pitch they prepare for the Ahmedabad game, because the one in Indore was just not ideal. The surface has been rated as 'poor' by the ICC and has received three demerit points.
JUST IN: the Indore pitch for the third #INDvAUS Test has been rated as 'poor' by the ICC https://t.co/rKZXgwDdyP
#3 DRS calls
A lot of on-field decisions were overturned by the 3rd umpire during the course of the third Test match. To be fair to the umpires, it wasn't the easiest of games to officiate in, with the surface playing all kinds of tricks. That is why the DRS is there- to ensure that the correct decision is made. However, India have not been great with their DRS calls of late, having an extremely poor success rate.
India have a DRS success percentage of 28.4% in Tests since 2020.
Australia aren't among the best when it comes to using DRS.
#INDvAUS | #TestCricket | #DRS | #Australia | #TeamIndia https://t.co/9cEvYKhnJc
India's poor judgment was on show even in the third Test as they burnt up all their reviews as early as the 45th over of the innings. India certainly need to get better at this to ensure that they do not waste reviews as that can haunt the team later.