The veteran Indian spinner, R Ashwin on Saturday opines that premeditation might have led to Australia’s batting downfall in the first innings of the opening game of the 4-match Test series of the much-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Pat Cummins won the toss in Nagpur and opted to bat but Australia was bundled out for just 177 in 63.5 overs inside the 3rd session on the opening day.
There was a lot of chatter about the pitch conditions in Nagpur ahead of the game, especially in Australian media. When Australia won the toss and opted to bat, they had an opportunity to put their foot down and post a huge total. However, Australia crumbled under relentless pressure from the India bowlers on Day 1.
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Talking to the broadcaster on Day 3, R Ashwin said, “Sometimes when batters come to this part of the world, premeditation can get the better out of you. I just felt like Carey wasn’t trusting his defense enough. Sweeping and reverse-sweeping look like his defense.”
He further added, “So that’s probably going to be his go-to option all through the series. We’ll have to watch out for that. We had our plans in place and I thought it worked pretty well.”
Meanwhile, R Ashwin also lauded Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja, who made a partnership of 88 runs for the 8th wicket after Rohit Sharma got out for 120. Australia would have hoped to wrap up the Indian innings when wicket-keeper batter KS Bharat got out for 8 and India was reeling at 240/7 but Jadeja and Axar added 88 runs together for the 8th wicket to stretch India’s lead past 150.
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Talking about the pitch, R Ashwin said, “It’s still a pretty good pitch. Sometimes the way the wicket looks can throw you off in this part of the world. I still think that it’s a typically good, old-fashioned first-class pitch that I’ve grown up seeing.”
Australia struck early on Day 3 as Todd Murphy got his 6th wicket on debut, removing Ravindra Jadeja for 70.
