After the completion of the day-night Test between India and Australia, former off-spinner Harbhajan Singh shared his thoughts with Star Sports on what went wrong for India in the second test and how India should approach the upcoming test matches.
Travis Head’s scintillating century at home, accompanied by brilliant bowling performances from Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins led Australia to a 10-wicket win at the Adelaide Oval. The victory also ensured Australia reclaimed their place atop the WTC 2023-25 standings.
“One area where India would like to improve is the partnership. We need to have big partnerships. We didn’t get a good partnership in Adelaide because of which we did not have enough runs on the board. If we have 300-350 on the board then our bowlers have the capability to bowl them out, Harbhajan Singh said while speaking to Star Sports.
The pitch was advantageous for #TravisHead and #TeamIndia needs to think of stronger partnerships going ahead in the #BorderGavaskarTrophy according to experts #MatthewHayden and #HarbhajanSingh.#AUSvINDOnStar 3rd Test SAT, 14th DEC, 5:20 AM onwards! | #ToughestRivalry pic.twitter.com/TrDp4wsTha
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) December 8, 2024
Coming to the match, India won the toss and opted to bat first. However, they had to face the wrath of a moving, erratic pink-ball and its mastermind, Mitchell Starc (6/48).
Except for a 69-run stand for the second wicket between KL Rahul (37 in 64 balls with six fours) and Shubman Gill (31 in 51 balls, with five fours) and a fighting 42 in 54 balls (three fours and three sixes) from Nitish Kumar Reddy, there was not much highlights from India who were skittled out for 180 runs. Skipper Cummins and Scott Boland also took two wickets.
In the first innings, a 67-run partnership between Nathan McSweeney (39 in 109 balls, with six fours) and Marnus Labuschagne (64 in 126 balls, with nine fours) for second wicket set the platform for Travis Head to impose his domination over Indian bowlers yet again with a counter-attacking 140 in 141 balls, with 17 fours and four sixes, just when Aussies lost some regular wickets. His century took Australia to 337 runs and gave them a 157-run lead.
Jasprit Bumrah (4/61) and Mohammed Siraj (4/98) were top bowlers for India. Ravichandran and Nitish got a wicket each. In their second innings, India appeared even more toothless as the star-studded top-order and middle-order returned back to pavillion despite starts from Jaiswal (24 in 31 balls, with four boundaries), Gill (28 in 30 balls, with three fours) while KL Rahul (7) and Virat Kohli (11 in 21 balls with a four) failed to score well. India ended day two at 128/5.
On the third day, Pant also lost his wicket for 28 in 31 balls, with five fours. From there on, it was not looking back for the Aussies, who skittled out India for 175 runs in 36.5 overs. India lead by just 18 runs, setting Aussies 19 runs to win. Skipper Cummins (5/67) took a majestic five-wicket haul, his eighth as a captain. Boland took 3/51 while Starc took 2/60.
Set a target of 19 runs, Khawaja (10*) and McSweeney (9*) chased it down without breaking a sweat in 3.2 overs.
