It's disappointing to have lost this Test match. I think in the first couple of days, we played some pretty good cricket. We expected India to come back hard, Australia captain Steve Smith said after play on Tuesday.
For about two-and-a-half days out of the four in the second Test here, Australia were in command, doing all the right things to pull off another heist on India like they did in Pune.
They bowled out the hosts cheaply after losing the toss, put their heads down, batted long and got a crucial 87-run first innings lead.
So far, so good.
From then on, though, the visitors lost the plot to give India a tiny opening, one that Virat Kohli & Co were only too happy to take and shut it on the Aussies.
"It's disappointing to have lost this Test match. I think in the first couple of days, we played some pretty good cricket. We expected India to come back hard," Australia captain Steve Smith said after play on Tuesday.
"But I am still proud of the way the boys competed. When we came here, we were written off and expected to lose 4-0. But we have competed incredibly hard in the first two Test matches. If we can continue to do that, hopefully we will get more results going our way," he added.
The loss of plot began from the start of the second innings when KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara countered the Aussie bowlers, particularly the pacers, to even out the deficit pretty quickly.
From then on, every run hammered a nail in Australia's coffin, and despite engineering another Indian collapse on Tuesday morning, the writing was on the wall with a target of over 150.
"I thought it would be difficult to chase 188. What we did this (Tuesday) morning was what we needed to do yesterday (Monday). If we had done that, things could have been certainly different," Smith said.
It could also have been different had Shaun Marsh reviewed his dismissal on Tuesday, for the ball was way outside the off stump. Smith, who was the non-striker at the time, revealed confusion and miscommunication were the reasons behind the non-referral.
"We weren't entirely sure. I said 'go' as in 'go have a look at it'. But he (Marsh) turned around and started walking. Maybe I should have just put my hands up and done it (reviewed). It could have been important. Shaun was looking pretty good, and it was a disappointing wicket at that time," he said.
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