1) Lack of runs from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are two of India’s most reliable batters, but they had a dismal outing with the bat. Rohit was struggling to keep his consistency throughout the series, as he failed to score important runs, which resulted in a lot of pressure building up on the middle-order.
Kohli being one of India’s best-ever players in test cricket, failed to post big numbers. He secured a century in Perth, but was not well with the bat after that. Him not being able to score on the Australian pitch left a massive hole in India’s batting lineup.

2) Absence of a solid third seamer

India’s pace attack was led by Jasprit Bumrah, and was supposed to be one of the strongest part of the team. However, there not being a reliable third seamer came out as a significant disadvantage. Though Bumrah came out of the series as the leading wicket-taker, the other bowlers could not manage to take wickets at a regular intervals, which caused Indian bowlers to not build enough pressure on their opponents.

3) Depending too much on Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah is a veteran pacer in the Indian team and has a lot of expertise. He came out of the series as the highest wicket-taker, as he had claimed 32 wickets in the series at an average of 13.06. Bumrah had a series which would be remembered, especially since the fact that other bowlers could not even manage to come close to his mark. Though Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja helped in taking some wickets, the team depended too much on Bumrah to make crucial breakthroughs, which caused a significant pressure being built on him.

4) Lack of aggression on the field

Aggression in terms of both physical gestures and strategy is crucial when facing Australia, and Indian team has had a history of going to the moon and back if it comes to being aggressive on the field and performing harshly. But at certain points of the series, the lack of aggression was clearly visible. Be it in their approach with the batting lineup, or be it their bowling attack, Indian team was lacking the energy required to put pressure on Australian team which led to a loss in their momentum.

5) Batters collapsed under pressure

The biggest flaw for India through the whole series was the batters not being able to deal with the pressure at crucial moments of the match. Batting stars like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Shubman Gill could not manage to perform well in matches. The team failed to reach 200 runs in critical matches.

The post IND v AUS: 5 reasons that caused India’s downfall in Border-Gavaskar Trophy appeared first on Cricket Country.

Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj chipped in with 2 wickets each while both Jasprit Bumrah and Nitish Kumar Reddy ended the innings with 2 wickets each.

The Men in Blue were given a massive scare when pace spearhead and stand-in captain Bumrah underwent precautionary scans for an unspecified injury after leaving the field in the post-lunch session.

Following an impressive bowling display, it was the time for India batters to deliver. However, the top-order certainly wasn’t able to do so as the first 4 batters – Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli were all dismissed cheaply. It looked like the visitors would be bundled out within the second day itself, however Rishabh Pant had other ideas.

The 27-year-old wicketkeeper-batter played a fantastic knock of 61 runs from just 33 deliveries to somehow keep India’s innings afloat despite the hosts being in command. The Men in Blue finished the day on 141/6 and currently lead by 145 runs. Ravindra Jadeja (8*) and Washington Sundar (6*) will be looking to India’s lead towards the 200-run mark on the third day.

Pant’s knock prevented the Indian innings from falling apart with the visitors’ top and lower-order struggling to negotiate against the Australian attack on a track that was aided seam and bounce. Scott Boland was once again the top bowler for the Baggy Greens, finishing the second day with figures of 4/42.

The match looks certain to end on the third day, however India will be counting on skipper Bumrah to return to full fitness if they hope to defend a low total.

The post Indian bowlers dominate before Rishabh Pant’s explosive knock sees Sydney Test head for exciting finish appeared first on Cricket Country.

The video of Pant’s first-ball six off Scott Boland’s bowling went viral on social media within no time. Pant’s six off Boland was the seventh instance of an Indian batter hitting a six off the first ball of an innings in Tests and only the second time that it happened in an away Test.

Pant showed a completely opposite attitude than what he showed in the first innings of the Sydney Test. The 27-year-old batted quite sensibly, scoring 40 runs off 98 deliveries in the first innings and was the top-scorer for the Men in Blue.

The wicketkeeper-batter came out to bat after Boland dismissed Kohli for just 6 runs on the first ball of the 14th over of India’s second innings.

The post WATCH: Rishabh Pant BRUTALIZES Scott Boland, opens his account with huge six in second innings appeared first on Cricket Country.

Courtesy of his dismissal, Kohli went on to register an embarrassing record, as he recorded the second-lowest first innings average in Test cricket, taking matches since the start of 2024 into consideration.

Kohli embarrassingly has a lower average than that of India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah in Test cricket since the start of 2024. The only player who has a lower average than that of Kohli is South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj.

Lowest first inning averages since the start of 2024 in Test cricket

1. Keshav Maharaj (South Africa) – 5.4

2. Virat Kohli (India) – 7

3. Jasprit Bumrah (India) – 8

4. Shoaib Bashir (England) – 8.3

Things could have turned out to be far worse for Kohli during the first day of the Sydney Test as he ended up edging the very first delivery that he faced down to the second slip. Fortunately for him, Steve Smith ended up dropping the catch, giving Kohli a massive lifeline.

Smith seemed to have let the ball touch the ground as he tried to grab the ball in slips. Eventually, the decision was handed to the third umpire, who ruled in Kohli’s favour and the batter remained on the field.

The post Virat Kohli hits EMBARRASSING new low, records less batting average than THIS India bowler appeared first on Cricket Country.

After their dismissals, Kohli joined hands with Shubman Gill, where he survived a close call on the very first delivery that he faced. Australia pacer Scott Boland almost dismissed Kohli when the batter ended up edging the delivery towards the slips. Steve Smith, who was standing on second slip, grabbed the ball and tossed it upwards as Marnus Labuschagne took the catch. 

The Australians had already started celebrating, however the on-field umpire handed the decision over to the third umpire. It was then revealed that the ball had touched the ground before Smith was able to pass it to Labuschagne. Hence, Kohli got an important lifeline on the very first ball that he faced.

The drama did not end over here. After the completion of the over, both Kohli and Smith were seen exchanging some words.

During the lunch break, Smith opened up on the incident and stood firm on his stance, stating that he got his hands beneath the ball and hence it was a fair catch.

Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting also disagreed with the third umpire’s decision regarding the catch.

“As far as I was concerned, if (the ball) had’ve come out of (Smith’s) hand, he wouldn’t have been able to scoop it up. That’s what I’m saying, I think his fingers are clearly underneath the ball … look where his pointer figure is there, it’s still underneath the ball,” Ponting said

The post WATCH: Virat Kohli and Steve Smith involved in heated exchange after umpiring drama in SCG Test appeared first on Cricket Country.

After being given a target of 340 runs on the final day of the Test, the India batters gave a highly disappointing performance and got bundled out for just 155.

The Men in Blue lost 7 wickets in the final session of the match as the Australian bowlers were completely over them and didn’t let any of the batters settle on the crease.

For Australia, pacers Pat Cummins and Scott Boland took 3 wickets each while Nathan Lyon took 2. Finally, Mitchell Starc and Travis Head took 1 wicket each as Australia completed a famous victory over India.

Following the massive defeat, fans took to social media to brutally criticize the Indian team for their disappointing performance at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

The post ‘Shameful disgrace’: Indian team gets ROASTED on social media following Melbourne Test defeat appeared first on Cricket Country.

On Saturday, Pant went across and attempted to scoop Scott Boland to fine leg, only to get a big leading edge for Nathan Lyon to complete a simple catch at deep third man.

Gavaskar, who at the time was doing commentary duty was left angry due to Pant’s ‘stupid’ shot selection and said that the wicketkeeper let the team down by throwing his wicket away when his team needed him the most.

A day after the video of him brutally criticizing Pant went viral on social media, Gavaskar has now justified his remarks. The legendary batter said he is extremely passionate about Indian cricket, even though he retired from the game more than 3 decades back.

“Honestly, this game has made me. Indian cricket has made me. So when I see somebody as talented as Rishabh Pant play that shot ….and I had no problems with the first shot he played. The reason why I got upset was the ego took over for the next ball. I’ve just been hit in the midriff attempting a similar shot. I’m gonna show the bowler who’s the boss. Test cricket is not easy,” Gavaskar said.

“When he got out and got out at the other end …and I was always saying that they have got two fielders there in the deep. And this is a big ground it’s not easy to hit the sixes. You’ve got the fielders in the catching position. Deep square leg and deep fine leg. But when he got caught at third man with the edge. I’ve seen him play some fabulous innings, Rishabh Pant. But here in Australia, I get the impression he thinks that’s the only way he’s going to score runs here. He’s stepping down the pitch and lofting the ball and getting a boundary,” Gavaskar added.

“But that’s not always the way he scored runs in the past. He has, of course, played those shots, and those have been outrageously good. But it looks like he’s doing that … I’ve seen him play the cover drive along the ground very well. The square cut, the pull shot he plays so well, the flick off the pads. Everything he’s got,” Gavaskar further added.

The post ‘The ego took over…’: Sunil Gavaskar justifies his rant on Rishabh Pant in Melbourne Test appeared first on Cricket Country.

Even though Day 4’s pie may indicate that Australia and India shared honours, India would know that they missed a chance to completely dominate Australia. In the second session, Australia was struggling at 91/6, but their unmoved performance worked out well for them as they finished with the score of 228/9, leading over India by 333 runs.

Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland stitching up a 55-run partnership and turning the match was the thing that turned out to be the hardest thing to accept. Australia is now leading by 333 runs at stumps on Day 4. In order to win this match, India will not have to break all previous records and create history. India’s batting, however, has not been the best of the shows in this series. Both Nathan and Scott will resume the play on Day 5.

This is the second-ever instance where a pair batting on the last wicket has joined partnerships that has lasted for more than 50 balls across both the innings. Nathan and Scott have batted for 8.3 overs in the first and then a game-changing 17.4 overs in the second.

Jasprit Bumrah also put out a splendid display, as he brought his series total to 29 wickets and his the 200-wicket mark in his career. Although Mohammed Siraj gave out a strong show as well, India was unable to keep the thrust required to end Australian innings.

India will now has to get the final wicket on Day 5 as soon as possible, and then face the task of completing the chase within the limited overs they will be left with. Then considering the below-par performance in the series, the team will be needing some sort of miracle to happen for tomorrow.

The post Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland Pakistan’s 63-year-old record in Boxing-Day test against India appeared first on Cricket Country.

Nitish Kumar Reddy has been an outstanding performer for India in this Test match. His main contribution with the bat have had a key role in India making a strong comeback after the team faced a long period of dominance from the Australian side over the last two days.

Nitish stepped on the pitch at a critical point of the match where India was suffering a batting collapse. Even though there was clearly a lot of pressure, he showed composure and took the sail in his own hands to take India from a serious position of 159/5 to 358/9 by the time day 3 came to an end.

The main highlight of Nitish Reddy’s outing was his handling of the Australian pacers, particularly Scott Boland. Scott praised Reddy, as he emphasized the all-rounder’s ability to score runs all around the ground. He mainly focused on how Reddy consistently performed at his best in the challenging conditions in Australia.

“He has got, I’ve played the A game against him, the PM’s game and then a couple of Tests and you see he can score all around the ground. He’s obviously a very nice player and does well in the IPL and he’s doing well here in Australian conditions as well. It looks like he’s got pretty much every shot in the book,” Boland told reporters.

Nitish Kumar Reddy concluded Day 3 with the score of 105 runs off 176 balls, which included 10 fours and a six. Though fading light forced the match to be called off early on, Reddy is left eager to continue his strong performance on Day 4.

The post ‘You see he can score…’: Australia star pacer keeps Praising Nitish Kumar Reddy for his Amazing century in Boxing-Day Test appeared first on Cricket Country.

Nitish completed his maiden Test century by playing a fine knock and scoring 10 boundaries and a six. The 21-year-old formed a brilliant 127-run partnership with fellow all-rounder Washington Sundar, who also played a valiant knock of 50 before getting dismissed.

At one stage it looked like Nitish wouldn’t be able to complete his ton and would finish the innings unbeaten on 99 as India were on the verge of getting bundled out at 350/9. However, the youngster cleared all such doubts by smashing pacer Scott Boland for a boundary, reaching his century in fantastic fashion.

Following this heroic knock, fans on social media couldn’t help but shower praise on Nitish, who had shown immense maturity and given India a fighting chance in the match by helping them avoid the follow-on.

The post Social media hails Nitish Kumar Reddy for heroic century in Melbourne Test appeared first on Cricket Country.