India’s veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara has revealed the reasons, which led to the team’s downfall in second-pink ball Test against Australia at Adelaide. After winning the opening Test at Perth comprehensively by 295 runs, India suffered a 10-wicket hammering in the second game.
Pujara reckons the visitors achieved an under-par score of 180 runs in the first innings and they should have at least scored 270 runs. The Saurashtra batter feels Indian bowlers lacked teeth on the opening day of the Test match.
“When you lose a match, it’s not one reason. There are many reasons. Firstly, the batting in the first innings. Less runs were scored there. 180 runs were scored when 250-275 should have been made. After that, when we bowled on the same day, we got only one wicket,” Cheteshwar Pujara said on Star Sports show Follow the Blues.
Furthermore, Pujara reckons India’s tactics against Travis Head were wrong as they didn’t test him with short-pitch deliveries. Head went on to score a majestic knock of 140 runs to help Australia take a huge lead of 157 runs.
“We were bowling under the lights. The Australian batters batted very well. We will have to praise them, but along with that, the bowling could have been much better. We could have picked two or three wickets there. After that, the game plan against Travis Head was wrong,” Pujara added.
“The tactics could have been better. You could have bowled more bouncers against him. We shouldn’t have given so many runs on the off-side. There was a mistake there,” the veteran India batter observed.
Pujara reckons India missed the fightback they had shown in the second innings at Perth.
“After that, batting under the lights, the approach, and the mindset the players had. I felt the fightback we showed in the second innings of the Perth Test match was not seen,” he said.
The experienced batter wants the visitors to forget about the Adelaide loss and shift their focus on the Brisbane Test.
“However, whatever happened has happened. This loss was a bad dream. The pink ball is not good for India, especially in Australia. The Australian team has had a very good track record. So it was a bad dream that we should forget and move forward,” Pujara observed.
The third Test match between India and Australia will be played at the Gabba, Brisbane from December 14.
