What Went Wrong For India In Indore Test

After two convincing victories at Nagpur and Delhi, high-flying India came crashing down when they suffered a nine wicket thrashing in the third Test against Australia at the Holkar stadium in Indore.

The gamble to bat on a turning pitch backfired on the Indians as they collapsed against the Australian spinners and could not cross 200 in either inning.

A look at what went wrong for India in the Indore Test:

Jadeja's costly no-ball

Ravindra Jadeja had Marnus Labuschagne bowled for a duck off an inside edge, but it was ruled a no-ball as the spinner had overstepped.

That mistake proved costly as Labuschagne made 31, putting on 96 runs for the second wicket with Usman Khawaja -- a decisive partnership in a low-scoring contest.

DRS Errors

India's poor reviews also cost them a wicket.

Jadeja twice convinced Captain Rohit Sharma to take the reviews against Khawaja, which went against India as they ended up losing both DRS reviews.

That created a doubt in Rohit's mind as he didn't relent when Ravichandran Ashwin had a close leg before shout turned down against Labuschagne in the 11th over.

Had India taken the review, the umpire's decision would have been overturned and Labuschagne would have been dismissed for seven.

Poor batting in both innings

Indian batters collapsed in both innings of the Test. Alleged to be good players of spin, the Indians failed to come to grips with a turning pitch at the Holkar stadium.

Matthew Kuhnemann, playing only his second Test, picked up five wickets in nine overs to send India crashing for 109 in their first innings.

Nathan Lyon registered sensational figures of 8/64 as India managed just 163 in their second innings.

Lack of runs from Rohit, Kohli

The lack of runs from senior duo Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli hurt India big time.

Rohit perished for 12 in the first innings stumped off Kuhnemann trying to hit the spinner over the top; he perished to Lyon in the second for the same score.

Kohli looked promising in the first innings but could not push on, falling LBW to Todd Murphy for 22.

In the second innings, he fell to a poor shot, as he missed a pull shot off Kuhnemann with the ball skidding through and staying a bit low.

Pujara only batter to defy Aussies

Cheteshwar Pujara showed great determination to keep the Australians at bay on a difficult pitch, but the other Indian batters failed to learn from his dogged approach.

Lyon, Murphy and Kuhnemann were making the ball turn and bounce, but Pujara held strong at one end.

He was the only Indian batter to hit a fifty in the Indore Test; the next best was Shreyas Iyer's 26.

If only one of the top or middle order batters had hung around with Pujara, India could have posted a challenging total.

Pujara fell to an unbelievable reflex catch by Steve Smith at leg slip off Lyon.

Photographs: BCCI

• AUSTRALIA IN INDIA, 2023