Any other team would have also got out for maybe 72 or 80-90, says Gavaskar
Dec 19, 2020
Adelaide [Australia], December 19 : Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar heaped praise on Australia pacers Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins and said they would have bowled out any other team for 72 or 80-90 with the way they bowled against the Virat Kohli-led side on the third day of the pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
Gavaskar feels Indian batsmen gave up too early but any batting-order of the world would not be able to cross the 100-run mark against this Australian bowling line-up.
"I mean, any team that is all-out for its lowest Test score since the time it started playing cricket, that's never good to see. But having said that, if any other team had been facing that kind of bowling, they would have also got out, maybe be not all-out for 36, maybe 72 or 80-90 but the way Hazelwood, Cummins bowled and the earlier 3-over spell from Starc, they asked a lot of questions," Gavaskar told Channel 7 after the match.
"So it's not fair to blame the Indian batsmen for the way they got out because it was just simply superb bowling by the Australian bowlers," he added.
On the third day of the first Test, India was bundled out for 36 in the second innings and Australia was given a mediocre target of 90 runs to go 1-0 ahead in the four-match series. Australia chased down the total comfortably inside 21 overs with eight wickets in hand as Joe Burns scored an unbeaten half-century and Matthew Wade smashed 33 runs.
Fiery spells from Hazlewood and Cummins saw the Indian batting collapse as they shared nine wickets between them. For Australia, Hazelwood scalped five wickets while Cummins took four wickets. This score of 36 is India's lowest-ever score in Test cricket. Before this, India's lowest score was 42 in Test cricket against England in 1974.
India were on top for the first 2 days. India posted 244 in the first innings and bowled Australia out for 191 before the big collapse. Kohli said that his side did not show enough intent while batting in the second innings.
"It's very hard to put those feeling into words. We had a lead of 60-odd when we arrived. And then just collapsed. Played two days of good cricket to get in a position and then just lose it in an hour. Really hurts. Probably didn't have enough intent in the batting today. It's something that needs to be reflected and learnt from," said Kohli after the match.
