Culprits of defeat: 4 reasons… due to which the game turned, India lost

New Delhi. In the Border Gavaskar Trophy, the Indian team was expected to win the Boxing Day Test. After lagging behind on the first two days, the team made a strong comeback and strengthened its hold on the fourth day. On the fifth day, India was close to drawing the match but in the last two hours, Australia turned the tables. Team India, which was playing to save the match, lost the match due to 4 important reasons.

India bowled out Australia’s second innings for 234 runs on the last day of the Melbourne Test. To win, Team India had to score 340 runs but the host team showed the way to all the batsmen by scoring just 155 runs. Australia had scored 474 runs in the first innings and got a huge lead of 105 runs by all out India for 369 runs.

Rohit and Virat’s flop show
Team India’s hopes of victory largely depended on captain Rohit Sharma and experienced batsman Virat Kohli. On the last day of the match, both these batsmen surrendered before Australia’s bowling. Rohit Sharma returned after playing an inning of 9 runs while Virat Kohli returned after playing only 5 runs. In the first innings of this match, the captain scored 3 runs while the former captain scored 36 runs.

Third umpire spoiled the work
In the last session of the match on the fifth day of the Melbourne Test, the pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Washington Sundar were struggling for Team India. Both of them had a partnership of 10 runs after facing 45 balls. This was India’s last batting pair but the third umpire’s controversial decision for Yashasvi Jaiswal broke it. The ball had not touched Yashasvi’s bat and gloves, this was clearly visible in the sneak meter, yet Bangladesh’s third umpire Sharafuddaula Saikal declared him/her out.

Rishabh Pant was out again after playing a bad shot
In the first innings, Rishabh Pant lost his/her wicket by playing a bad shot and did something similar in the second innings also. The Indian team suffered three setbacks in quick succession in the first session on the fifth day. Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli got out and returned. Rishabh Pant along with Yashasvi Jaiswal ended the post-lunch session without losing any wicket. In the last session of the day, he/she got greedy and hit an aerial shot on the bowling of Travis Head and walked away after taking a catch.

Australia’s last pair spoiled the game
Indian bowlers had reduced Australia’s 9 wickets for just 173 runs in the second innings. After the fall of captain Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon along with Scott Boland spoiled the game for India by making a half-century partnership. Both of them added 61 runs for the last wicket and took the score from 173 runs to 234 runs. If this pair had been broken earlier, Team India would not have had the huge target of 340 runs.

tag: boxing day test, india vs australia, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal