Complacency. Overconfidence. Drop in intensity. It was a combination of all these things that brought about India’s downfall in the third Test in Indore, felt former head coach Ravi Shastri as Australia came roaring back with a nine-wicket victory to take the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to the decider in Ahmedabad.
The big difference this time around was that India were batting first. The pitch, by far the most difficult one to bat on in this series so far, had the long Indian batting line-up in a fix as they were bowled out for 109 in just over a session. The Rohit Sharma-led side lasted only 33.2 overs. From then on, it was always going to be catch-up cricket.
The bowlers did their part led by Ravindra Jadeja (4/78), Ravichandran Ashwin (3/44) and Umesh Yadav (3/12) by restricting Australia’s lead to 88 by bowling them out for 197.
While most blamed the pitch for India’s loss, Shastri said the hosts “took things for granted” and “the game brought them down.”
“This is what a little complacency, a little bit of overconfidence can do where you take things for granted, you drop guard and this game will bring you down,” Shastri said in the commentary after Australia reached home in the morning session of Day 3.
“I think it was a combination of all these things when you actually cast your mind back to the first innings, see some of the shots played, see some of the over-eagerness to try and dominate in these conditions. You reflect back, take a step back or two to analyse,” he added.
