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The Times of India

Sport

Partha Bhaduri | TNN

IND vs AUS 3rd Test: Australia crush India by nine wickets, qualify for WTC final

India WTC Australia Test (Event) Rohit Sharma Indore Holkar Stadium ICC Nathan Lyon Steve Smith

INDORE: The irony was palpable here at the Holkar Stadium on Friday as it was expectedly Australia who booked their berth in the World Test Championship Final with a comprehensive nine-wicket win inside three days.

The rare and assertive victory completely turned the tables on India, who were hoping to seal their own spot for that final here and will now need to rethink their plans for a green top in Ahmedabad as a practice option for that WTC title clash in England in June. In spite of the commanding, standout performances from Aussie off-spinner Nathan Lyon and Cheteshwar Pujara for the hosts, the quality of the contest in this third Test had an unsettling tone as it was completely overshadowed by the nature of the dry, raging turner on which it was played.

While such home surfaces are the norm these days, this pitch probably did more than India anticipated. The unexpected defeat, therefore, leaves a whole host of questions in its wake.

Do modern batters lack the skillset to stretch a Test match the distance in challenging conditions?

In the quest for quick wickets, are India doing their talented cricketers no favours by being unidimensional in preparing dry turners, where luck plays as much part as skill? Can India’s batters indeed cover the deficit by playing spin better than their visiting opponents? And did the late cancellation of Dharamshala as a venue leave the Holkar Stadium curators little time to prepare the perfect turner to suit India’s needs? Whatever, as expected, ICC later on Friday rated the Indore pitch as “poor”.

Interestingly, while it was expected that India captain Rohit Sharma would reiterate that playing on such spin-friendly but unpredictable surfaces was India’s “strength” even if the move backfires once in a blue moon, Australia captain Steve Smith too said he prefers them to the traditionally flat subcontinental tracks of yore.

1/10:Indore pitch rated 'poor' after third Test ended inside three days

“This was everyone’s call to play on such pitches,” Rohit said. “When we win, everything looks good. Nobody talks about the batting. We know the challenge can turn around on us but we are ready.”

On Tests not lasting the usual five days, Rohit’s view was that batters aren’t applying themselves enough.

“People have to play well for the game to last five days. Games are not lasting five days outside India too. Yesterday in South Africa (Centurion, SA vs West Indies) the Test finished in three days. In Australia as well.

“It’s about skills. If the pitches are helping the bowlers, the batters need to try and test their skills, adapt. In Pakistan, there were three Tests played (on very flat pitches), people said it was boring. We are trying to keep it interesting. Honestly this pitch talk is just getting too much. Our strength is spin bowling and batting depth. It’s not like people have not scored in these conditions. We don’t want to prepare a pitch where the results are not coming. I do understand it can come and haunt us as well.” Smith, too seemed to concur, though he termed the pitch for the third Test “too extreme”.

“We haven’t gone past three days yet (in the series) so that shows it’s been spinning from Day One in all the Tests. Personally, I really enjoy playing on these kinds of wickets. I prefer this than just a genuine flat wicket that goes five days and can be boring in stages,” he said.

“There’s always something happening on these wickets. You’ve got to really work hard for your runs. This one (in Indore) might have been a little bit too extreme, potentially from the first ball, but it was still enjoyable.”

There was a slight change in the script on the third morning as for the first time in this Test, there was no morning-session batting collapse. Some fussing by India over a hasty ball change couldn’t mask the fact that this match had been done and dusted after Nathan Lyon’s epic performance with the ball on Day 2.

1/10:India’s run in World Test Championship cycle

Ashwin and Jadeja threatened for the first 10 overs of the proceedings, and the wicket of Usman Khawaja off Ashwin’s second ball offered faint hope. Then a ball change after the 10-over mark displeased the spin duo ad they completely lost their lengths, allowing Travis Head (49* off 53 balls; 6x4, 1x6) and Marnus Labuschagne to dominate and knock off the 76 runs required. The Aussie pair was initially stoic with their defence but after the ball change, their body language shifted and the 11th and 12th overs yielded 22 runs.

In fact, 43 runs came in the subsequent 5 overs following the ball change but as skipper Rohit said later, “There were only 70-odd runs and you can’t see too much in the change. We just needed more runs on the board. If you look at all the dismissals, we played poorly. Of the 10 wickets, maybe (in) one or two the pitch did help the bowler a little bit.”

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