I'm not convinced that he is a very good player of spin - Ian Chappell on Shreyas Iyer

Former Australian cricketer Ian Chappell believes that a few players in the Indian batting lineup, including Shreyas Iyer and Cheteshwar Pujara, tend to struggle against good spinners.

He claimed that Pujara has not looked at ease against the Australian spinners so far in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Chappell further pointed out that while many deem Iyer a very good batter of spin, he feels otherwise.

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo after stumps on Day 1 of the Indore Test, he said:

"Cheteshwar Pujara is very jumpy. I think right through the series he has been very jumpy. I keep hearing that Shreyas Iyer is a very good player of spin bowling, but I haven't seen it yet, and I'm not convinced that he is. To me, he is a bit of a panicker."

Commenting on India's dismal batting performance on the opening day of the third Test, Ian Chappell claimed that the hosts were unsettled seeing how the pitch behaved in the first hour. He also credited the Australian bowlers for doing a fine job, folding India for just 109 runs.

Chappell added:

"There are some players in the Indian side that haven't convinced me that they're good players of spin bowling. I thought that the Australians spooked India early on. A couple of things happened with the pitch. The Australian spinners bowled very accurately. But what we saw was Australian-type batting from the Indians."

Shreyas Iyer has failed to make a mark in the Test series against Australia. He was dismissed for a duck in the first innings of the third Test and has just 16 runs to his name in three innings.

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first at the Holkar Cricket Stadium on Wednesday, March 1. However, the home team struggled to get going and wickets kept tumbling like nine pins.

A day to forget at Indore for India 😢

#India #BGT #Cricket https://t.co/iE3ZXGy1lx

Left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann picked up his maiden five-wicket haul, while veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon bagged three scalps.

"It was Australia who outplayed India" - Ian Chappell on Steve Smith and Co. dominating Day 1 of 3rd IND vs AUS Test

Ian Chappell further stated that Australia's top-order batters Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne did a fine job with the bat on a tricky Indore wicket.

He opined that the batters played similarly to how Rohit Sharma did in the opening Test in Nagpur, where he scored 120 runs. The cricketer-turned-commentator suggested that the visiting side have an upper hand in the contest, and quite deservingly so, adding:

"When Australia batted, particularly [Usman] Khawaja, he was very good. [Marnus] Labuschagne had a good partnership with him. There was more of the Rohit Sharma batting when he got the century in Australia's innings. To me, it was Australia who outplayed India and definitely deserved to have the lead."

Notably, Khawaja was the top performer with the bat for Australia on Day 1, slamming a gritty half-century. He ultimately perished against Ravindra Jadeja after scoring 60 runs. Labuschagne too toiled hard in the middle, scoring 31 runs off 91 balls before getting out to Jadeja.

That's Stumps on Day 1⃣ of the third #INDvAUS Test!

4️⃣ wickets so far for @imjadeja as Australia finish the day with 156/4.

We will be back with LIVE action on Day 2.

Scorecard - bit.ly/INDvAUS-2023-3… #TeamIndia @mastercardindia https://t.co/osXIdrf9iW

Australia finished the day at 156/4 and have accumulated a crucial 47-run lead. For India, Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers, picking up all four wickets.