Australia captain Pat Cummins rued his team’s poor start with the bat against India as a major factor in its massive innings and 132-run defeat in the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test on Saturday.
Electing to bat first after winning the toss on Thursday in Nagpur, Australia was dismissed for a below-par 177 by India. Australia’s performance came on the back of a lot of criticism from the Australian media about India’s preparations of a “doctored” surface for the series opener.
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja razed through the Australia middle-order with figures of five for 47. The home side then put up a massive 400 on the board with a century from captain Rohit Sharma and valuable lower-order contributions. India then dismantled Australia for 92 in the second innings - the visitor’s lowest score against India in India.
“The game moves pretty quickly here at times in India. The spinners are always going to be hard work when it’s spinning. Rohit played very well. The wicket spun (in the first innings) but wasn’t unplayable. Should’ve scored 100 more runs. Starting here is tough but 3-4 of our guys got in. When you do get in, got to score big scores,” Cummins remarked at the post-match interaction.
Australia’s defeat reduced its lead at the top of the World Test Championship table while India improved its stand at the second spot.
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