"The game plan against Travis Head was wrong" - Cheteshwar Pujara on the reasons for India's loss in BGT 2024-25 2nd Test
Cheteshwar Pujara has attributed India's loss in the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 Test to multiple reasons. He picked the visitors' 'wrong' bowling game plan for Travis Head as one of the factors for the defeat.
Australia registered a comprehensive 10-wicket win against India in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide to draw level in the five-match series. Head was awarded the Player of the Match for his game-defining 140-run knock in the hosts' first innings.
During an interaction on the Star Sports show 'Follow the Blues', Pujara was asked the one reason for India's loss.
"When you lose a match, it's not one reason. There are many reasons. Firstly, the batting in the first innings. Less runs were scored there. 180 runs were scored when 250-275 should have been made. After that, when we bowled on the same day, we got only one wicket," he responded.
"We were bowling under the lights. The Australian batters batted very well. We will have to praise them, but along with that, the bowling could have been much better. We could have picked two or three wickets there. After that, the game plan against Travis Head was wrong," Pujara added.
Pujara pointed out that India didn't bowl enough bouncers against Head, allowing him to score freely on the off-side.
"The tactics could have been better. You could have bowled more bouncers against him. We shouldn't have given so many runs on the off-side. There was a mistake there," the veteran India batter observed.
Head walked out to bat when Australia were reduced to 103/3 in their first innings. He smashed 140 runs off 141 deliveries with the help of 17 fours and four sixes to help the hosts reach 337 and take a 157-run first-innings lead.
"The fightback we showed in the second innings of the Perth Test match was not seen" - Cheteshwar Pujara on India's second-innings batting in Adelaide
![India were reduced to 128/5 at Stumps on Day 2 of the Adelaide Test. [P/C: Getty]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/12/0dd1f-17338091833601-1920.jpg?w=500)
On the same show, Cheteshwar Pujara noted that India couldn't replicate their Perth second-innings batting performance in Adelaide.
"After that, batting under the lights, the approach, and the mindset the players had. I felt the fightback we showed in the second innings of the Perth Test match was not seen," he said.
The cricketer-turned-commentator urged Rohit Sharma and company to forget the Adelaide loss.
"However, whatever happened has happened. This loss was a bad dream. The pink ball is not good for India, especially in Australia. The Australian team has had a very good track record. So it was a bad dream that we should forget and move forward," Pujara observed.
The remaining three BGT 2024-25 Tests will be played in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney. India need to win the series to keep their hopes of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) final alive.