India Vs Australia 2023

"There was a great feeling inside that I would get to see Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant play in a Test match and even batting together in the stadium. It would have been a very rare sight to witness as it's not every time you get a Test match in Delhi, and more so, India playing against Australia. But because of something, it didn't happen," Luvpreet told IANS.

After having figures of 1/126 in Australia's crushing defeat by an innings and 132 runs in Nagpur, Lyon? captured 5/67 and 2/49 in both innings in New Delhi, with six of his scalps coming from around the wicket. "Look, I'm never going to criticise Nathan Lyon; he's got 450-plus Test wickets. But he continually bowled around the wicket to that leg-side field. I wish he had have bowled over the wicket, attacking the pads and bowling into the stumps."

Australia's tour of India has been nothing short of a disaster, with injuries to key players, baffling selection calls and usual batting capitulation in the face of quality spin bowling making headlines back home. All of this comes especially after opting not to play a single tour match. When Australia were skittled for 91 in the second innings of the first Test in Nagpur, it happened because the batters failed in trying to defend off the trinity of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.

Cummins, the current Australia Test captain, bowled 13 overs in the first innings as the visitors took a tiny one-run lead. But in defence of 115 against India after shockingly being bowled out for 113 in their second innings, Cummins didn't even take the new ball, and moreover, didn't bowl at all as Australia slumped to a six-wicket loss inside three days to be 2-0 behind in the four-match series.

Warner had suffered a concussion and was substituted by Matt Renshaw and it was later revealed a hairline fracture in his left elbow, which puts him in doubt for the rest of the series. With Australia's batters collapsing in a heap for an embarrassing six-wicket defeat in the second Test in New Delhi within three days, s, they have nine days to not only recover from the psychological.

This came about in the early days in England when the game was played by the affluent class who were considered to uphold the virtues of a 'Gentleman'. Cricket was played with a competitive attitude, however, played in a fair and honest manner. Although the game gradually brought in professionals it was still played to respect one's opponents and imbibe the values of good sportsmanship and friendship.

On day three, Australia went from 1/65 to all out for 113, attempts to sweep Indian spinners backfired as Steve Smith, Matthew Renshaw and captain Pat Cummins all got dismissed while trying to play the same shot. "It was panicky, frenetic batting. No one tried to get in there and stem the flow with some good defensive cricket. They were just getting out playing sweep shots, reverse sweeps to just about every ball.

But no one had an inkling that Australia would crumble like a pack of cards, falling to the mastery of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, apart from committing hara-kiri through going excessively for the sweep shot. From the overnight score of 61/1, Australia lost nine wickets in the morning session to end up with just 113 in their second innings.

The selectors also called up left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja after his brilliant bowling in the two Tests against Australia. Axar Patel and K.L Rahul, who were rested for the New Zealand ODIs, were also brought back as K.S Bharat and Shahbaz Ahmed were left out.

Since January 2022, Rahul has just one fifty-plus score while his last Test hundred came in December 2021 against South Africa. In the Delhi Test against Australia, Rahul was dismissed for 17 in the first innings and made just one in the chase of 115, coming after making a laborious 20 in Nagpur.