The first session of Day 1 in the third Test between India and Australia was full of drama, as India lost seven wickets after choosing to bat in Indore. The hosts were eventually bowled out for 109 on a pitch that is favorable to spinners, with over 4 degrees of average turn and the occasional low ball. According to former cricketer Matthew Hayden, the pitch seemed more like a third-day surface, and it received criticism from other former players and fans.
India’s Virat Kohli scored the most runs in the team’s innings with 22 runs, but the middle-order collapsed with Cheteshwar Pujara (1), Ravindra Jadeja (4), Shreyas Iyer (0), and KS Bharat (17) all dismissed cheaply. Former Australia captain Ian Chappell criticized the Indian batters, especially Iyer, at the end of day’s play.
Iyer is considered a strong player of spin in the Indian batting lineup but Chappell insisted he wasn’t “convinced” with what he saw of the 28-year-old player.
“Cheteshwar Pujara is very jumpy. I think right through the series he has been very jumpy. I keep hearing that Shreyas Iyer is a very good player of spin bowling, but I haven’t seen it yet, and I’m not convinced that he is. To me, he is a bit of a panicker,” Chappell said on ESPNCricinfo.
“There are some players in the Indian side that haven’t convinced me that they’re good players of spin bowling. I thought that the Australians spooked India early on. A couple of things happened with the pitch. The Australian spinners bowled very accurately. But what we saw was Australian-type batting from the Indians.”
Chappell further praised Usman Khawaja, who scored a valiant 60 on a tricky Indore surface. “When Australia batted, particularly [Usman] Khawaja, he was very good. [Marnus] Labuschagne had a good partnership with him. There was more of the Rohit Sharma batting when he got the century in Australia’s innings. To me, it was Australia who outplayed India and definitely deserved to have the lead,” said the former Aussie captain.
