Indian skipper’s admission as pitch ploy backfires; Smith answers awkward issue

In the blink of an eye, Australia has secured a nine-wicket wicket victory over India in Indore, defeating the hosts in less than seven sessions at Holkar Cricket Stadium.

Thirty wickets fells in two eventful days on the spin-friendly wicket before Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne guided Australia towards the 76-run target on Friday morning.
The series stands at 2-1 in India’s favour ahead of the fourth Test in Ahmedabad, which gets underway on Thursday.

'One of our best ever victories': aussies defy the odds

Winning Test cricket in India is bloody difficult.

In the past decade, India has only lost two of their 42 Tests on home soil. They’re an immensely talented side, with a world-class bowling attack that expertly exploits the spinning conditions.

Australia, without their captain and veteran opener batter, defied the odds to demolish India at Holkar Cricket Stadium this week, emphatically bouncing back from embarrassing defeats in Nagpur and Delhi.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is gone, but that shouldn’t undermine the significance of this victory. The Indore triumph means Australia keeps its ICC No. 1 Test team status and books a spot in the World Test Championship final at the Oval.

It also gives Australia an opportunity to push for a tied series in Ahmedabad — India has won their 15 most recent Test series at home, a streak that could be broken next week.

Speaking on Fox Cricket, former Test batter Mark Waugh said the nine-wicket triumph was Australia’s “best victory in the last two decades”.

“Considering injuries, Pat Cummins has gone home, David Warner injured, two rookie spinners in India for the first time against a quality,” Waugh said on Fox Cricket.

“It’s going to go down as one of our best ever victories.”

SEN commentator Gerard Whateley said: “It’s a grand achievement for this generation of players.

“That’s the character of this team. I am full of admiration for them tonight.”

The Australians were bombarded with a tsunami of criticism last month, crucified by former teammates and its own fanbase following a pair of horrific collapses in the opening two Tests.

But the tourists didn’t abandon their plans in Indore, backing themselves to defeat India by persisting with their unique brand of cricket, and reaped the rewards for doing so.

It’s just a shame Australia only rediscovered its mojo once India had already retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

“It’s very satisfying,” Australian captain Steve Smith told reporters in the post-match press conference.

“I thought it was a great team performance all the way from day one … the way we went about it was outstanding.

“It shows the talent within this group and the belief we’ve got in ourselves.

“In this group we’ve got a lot of quality players, and if we’re trusting ourselves and playing to our methods for long periods, we’re going to have more success than we’re going to fail.”

'Really proud' lyon races towards 500

All hail the GOAT.

Nathan Lyon’s love affair with India has continued, with the veteran off-spinner flourishing on the Indore minefield with a career-defining 11-wicket haul.

He threatened both edges of the bat at Holkar Cricket Stadium, relentlessly targeting the stumps as India’s top order, which is packed with right-handers, toppled like dominoes.

It was his third-best bowling performance in Test history, putting him one step close towards the coveted 500-wicket career tally, a feat only seven cricketers have achieved.

Lyon, who copped his fair share of criticism after the series opener in Nagpur, is now Australia’s leading Test wicket-taker in India, overtaking the legendary Richie Benaud on Thursday. The New South Welshman has also leapfrogged former Indian captain Anil Kumble as the leading wicket-taker in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, with 113 scalps in 25 Tests.

Lyon’s 8-64 in the second innings ensured he became the first Australian spinner in Test history to take multiple eight-wicket hauls.

“I’m just really proud of the way we’ve gone about it,” Lyon told reporters at stumps on day two.

“Personal success is great to have but after Delhi, we had a couple of really good days off as a team, and really good conversations at training. Certainly, it’s up there as one of my career highlights, but I’m more proud of our group.”

Most wickets in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy

113 – Nathan Lyon

111 – Anil Kumble

107 – Ravichandran Ashwin

95 – Harbhajan Singh

84 – Ravindra Jadeja

Lyon confessed that it took him a while to fully understand his role in the Test side, crediting his dad for the eureka moment. He no longer feels the burden of being Australia’s match-winner in every Test, acknowledging the importance of bowling in partnerships.

“At the start of my career, I probably felt more the weight of trying to win games in the last couple of innings,” Lyon explained.

“But it was actually my dad who sat me down and said, ‘There are three or four other bowlers who you’re able to bowl within partnerships and if you do your role. Some days, you’re going to have success and some days, your mates are going to have success, and that’s more important that you’re able to identify that. When it’s your time, grab it and run with both hands.’

“So it was my dad who just simplified it for me and made sure I wasn’t over-complicating things and putting too much pressure on myself. They can be high-pressure environments, and if we can stay nice and calm and collected, enjoy the battle, enjoy the contest and hopefully some days you’ll have success.”

Smith declares 'this is patty's team'

Steve Smith is now three-for-three as Australia’s reserve skipper since Pat Cummins took on the captaincy in late 2021.

Cummins has missed three Tests over the past 18 months, for varying reasons, with Smith donning the green jacket in his absence — with great success.

Australia defeated England by 275 runs at Adelaide Oval in 2021 before toppling the West Indies by 419 runs in the corresponding fixture the following summer.

Smith, who captained Australia in 33 Tests before the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal, was again tasked with leading the side in Indore after Cummins flew home due to a family health matter.

And with the exception of a handful of woeful DRS calls on day one, Smith hardly put a foot wrong at Holkar Cricket Stadium.

“He was inspired yesterday,” former Australian batter Matthew Hayden said in commentary.

“You could tell that he was right in the match. He has been brilliant. Tactically on point, up for the challenge.”

Smith becomes the first touring captain to win two Tests in India since former England skipper Alastair Cook achieved the feat in 2012. He is also the first Australian captain to win a Test in India on multiple tours.

Having served as captain in India on several occasions while representing Australia and the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, Smith has a sound grasp of the subcontinent’s conditions and the field placements needed to assist his spinners.

“I really enjoyed this week. I like captaining in this part of the world. I feel like I understand the conditions really well and the intricacies of the game,” Smith said in the post-match presentation.

“There’s an event every ball … it’s a lot different to the other parts of the world.

“I think I did a reasonable job this week.”

When pressed by reporters on whether he was interested on keeping the captaincy beyond the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Smith declared: “My time as captain is done. This is Patty’s team.”

Cummins and Smith form a unique partnership in the Test side, working together almost as co-captains depending on the match situation.

Supported by a wider leadership network within the squad, Cummins repeatedly downplays his own influence on the team, acknowledging the group’s wealth of experience makes his job considerably easier.

“The team’s really humming along at the moment, the players are absolute pros,” Cummins said earlier this summer.

“Sometimes I feel like I can step back and it just kind of runs itself, and I don’t feel like I need to intervene or be an enforcer when things are going well, like they have been.”

'Not good enough': pitch farce goes too far

Before criticising the Indore wicket, it’s worth acknowledging the Holkar Cricket Stadium curators were only given two weeks’ notice to prepare a Test-quality pitch.

The third Test between India and Australia was originally scheduled to take place at Dharamshala’s Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, but the BCCI changed the venue at the eleventh hour due to insufficient grass density.

Regardless, the Indore pitch was not up to Test standard. The third Test was over in less than seven sessions, with conditions unfairly assisting spin bowlers.

Only one previous Test in India saw fewer runs scored to achieve a result, the 2021 Ahmedabad match against England.

India being bowled out in less than three hours on day one, with nine wickets falling to spin, is a poor advertisement for the sport. There was not a fair contest between bat and ball.

At lunch on day one, Indian coach Rahul Dravid waltzed up and down the wicket accompanied by the head curator, who was wearing an Indian team kit.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Indian captain Rohit Sharma admitted India’s obsession with sharp-turning pitches backfired dramatically in Indore.

“Before a series starts, you have to decide on what pitches you need to play,” Sharma said.

“It was our call to play on such pitches. We knew that we could face challenges as well, but we were ready for these challenges.

“The consistent runs from the batters will not come on such challenging pitches. We are here to win whether it is two days or five days, it doesn’t matter. We don’t want to prepare a pitch where the results are not coming. We want to play to win.

“And we do understand it can come back to haunt us, I am aware of that.

“We want be brave enough, not just with talking. We want to be brave enough on what we do on the field and that’s playing on challenging pitches.”

Sharma continued: “This pitch talk is getting too much. Every time we play in India it’s always about the pitch.

“Why are we not talking about Nathan Lyon? How well he bowled? How well (Cheteshwar) Pujara batted in the second innings, how well Usman Khawaja played?

“Those are the things if you ask me I can give the details of, not the pitch. We focus too much on the pitch here in India and I feel that is necessary.”