5 reasons why India lost the second Test against Australia
India took on Australia in the second Test match at Perth, looking to carry on with their fine form. Tim Paine won the toss and decided to bat first on what looked like a tricky surface to bat on.
India opted to go with 4 fast bowlers as there was a lot of grass on the pitch. The openers Marcus Harris and Aaron Finch laid a solid platform for the middle order with a fine 112 run stand. Some crucial runs lower down the order by Pat Cummins and Paine got Australia to an impressive score of 326 runs.
In reply, India’s top order fell away yet again but another superlative knock from Virat Kohli and a handy cameo from Ajinkya Rahane got India into a strong position. However, Nathan Lyon struck on Day 3 to hand Australia a 43-run lead.
In the third innings, Indian fast bowlers wrecked havoc but a dogged innings by Usman Khawaja got Australia out of jail. India needed 287 runs for a famous win. However, no one from India’s famed batting line-up could get going and India surrendered meekly, giving Australia a 146 run victory.
The series is now tied at 1-1. Let us take a look at 5 reasons why India lost the Test match:
#1 Openers fail to get going, yet again
After enduring a torrid time in the first Test at Adelaide, K.L Rahul and Murali Vijay were expected to mount some challenge to the Aussie quicks at Perth. Given the fact that Marcus Harris and Aaron Finch had put on 112 runs for the first wicket, Indian fans would have expected Indian openers to put up a fifty stand at the very least.
But as usual, the Indian openers couldn’t get past the new ball. In the first innings, Vijay was undone by an inswinger from Mitchell Starc while K.L Rahul fell to an outswinging yorker from Josh Hazlewood with his feet going nowhere.
India were 8/2 in the first innings. As batting was always going to get difficult in the second innings, it was pivotal that the openers put up some runs on the board in the first innings.
Sadly, that was not the case. In the second innings as well, Rahul fell in the very first over, trying to leave the ball while Vijay went for an expansive drive against Lyon and both had their stumps rattled.