"They let the pitch overtake them" - Sunil Gavaskar on India's comprehensive defeat to Australia in Indore

Former Indian opening batter Sunil Gavaskar observed that the hosts let the pitch overpower them during their defeat to Australia in the third Test in Indore. The 73-year-old also lamented the lack of runs from the top-order batters in the first two Tests coming back to bite in Indore.

Australia's three-pronged spin-bowling attack left India dazed as they skittled them for 109 and 163 in two innings. Cheteshwar Pujara was the only Indian batter to score a half-century as the Aussie spinners picked up 19 out of 20 wickets in the Test.

Australia win the Third Test by 9 wickets.

#TeamIndia 🇮🇳 will aim to bounce back in the fourth and final #INDvAUS Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad 👍🏻👍🏻

Scorecard ▶️ bit.ly/INDvAUS-2023-3… @mastercardindia https://t.co/M7acVTo7ch

Speaking on Star Sports after India's defeat, Gavaskar pointed out that the hosts' top-order batters haven't scored runs consistently and weren't proactive enough in Indore.

"In the first two matches, they did not get runs. Apart from Rohit Sharma in Nagpur, they did not get enough runs. When you don’t get enough runs, there is just that little tentativeness in their batting. They did not get enough runs. They were not able to go down the pitch as much as they should have. They let the pitch overtake them. It was the pitch that was playing on their minds, even more so in the second innings."

Australia accounted for a handy 88-run lead after managing 197 in their first innings. Despite losing Usman Khawaja on the second ball of the innings during their run-chase of 76 in the fourth innings, the visitors chased down the required runs comfortably.

"It was a collective decision in the team to play on pitches like these" - Indian captain

Rohit Sharma stumped by Alex Carey. (Credits: Getty)

Speaking about the challenging pitches throughout the series, captain Rohit Sharma stated that playing on such pitches is their strength and hit out at conversations about the tracks.

"It was a collective decision in the team to play on pitches like these. We don't want to put extra pressure on the batters. Nobody talks about the batting when we win. These things only become a public discussion when we lose. We as a team wanted to play on these pitches. This pitch talk is too much now. Every time we play in India, it becomes all about the pitch. Nobody is asking me about Lyon, how well Pujara played in the second innings and about Khawaja. Then I can tell you about all that in details."

#WTC23 Final bound 🏆

Congratulations Australia. See you in June! 👋 https://t.co/H2YdaWPzYV

While Australia have qualified for the World Test Championship (WTC) final, Rohit and co. are yet to seal a spot and must win the fourth Test in Ahmedabad to do so.