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Explained: The main reasons for Indian cricket team’s embarrassing loss to Australia in Adelaide

Virat Kohli’s Indian cricket team were bowled out for 36 on the third day of the Pink Ball Test against Australia in Adelaide.

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The Indian cricket team collapsed badly in the second innings to be bowled out for their lowest total in Tests but they also dropped Tim Paine on 26 and he added 47 more runs. (Image credit: Twitter)
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The Indian cricket team began day 3 of the Pink Ball Test against Australia in Adelaide with over 60 runs ahead, having bowled the hosts out for 191 on the second day of the Test. With Australia batting last, the Indian cricket team would have hoped that a strong batting, in apparently the best of conditions, would have set Australia a target close to 300. However, in a dramatic display of bowling from Australia, India were bowled out for a paltry 36. This score represented the lowest total for India in their 88-year history of Test cricket and it was embarrassing to say the least. How did India go from having a good lead to becoming only the second nation after West Indies to lose a Pink Ball Test? Here is an explainer on the key factors behind India’s loss.

The Rahane-Kohli run-out

In the first innings, the Australian bowlers had made scoring very difficult for the Indian batsmen. However, they weathered the relentless discipline and put up a good show. Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane, who have stitched great partnerships in the past, managed to steady the ship and score at a good rate. The partnership was already nearing a century and Virat Kohli had hit his 23rd fifty. Then, disaster struck. A mix-up between Rahane and Kohli saw the Indian skipper run-out for 74. India lost six wickets for 56 runs, including four wickets for 11 runs in 23 minutes on the second day. The momentum that Kohli and Rahane had built was gone.

Paine’s drop on 26

Australia were on the ropes at 111/7 with Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah in top form. Tim Paine had looked dangerous with a couple of boundaries but in the 55th over, there was a moment where India lost the chance to drive home the advantage. On the fifth ball bowled by Bumrah, the Australian skipper top-edged the pull shot but Mayank Agarwal dropped the catch. It was the fourth drop by the Indian team in the Test match and this proved to be costly. Tim Paine shared partnerships of 28 for the eighth and ninth wicket as well as a stand of 24 for the last wicket. The total of 80 runs with the tail, when one looks at only 38 runs from the Indian lower order, made a massive difference. Had the catch being held, India would have a lead of 100 and they would have had much more intent.

Unrelenting discipline

In the previous innings, Australia’s bowlers bowled their typical back of a length zone which is demanding of Australian pitches. But, the Pink Ball surface in Adelaide needed something different. Australia corrected that in the second innings and it was perfection from Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins. All the nine wickets that fell were on the full length ball. India’s prime weakness was that when the ball swings only a touch, they struggle. When it swings prodigiously, they succeed. Hazlewood and Cummins both found enough nibble of the surface and the Indian batsmen had to play at it. The unrelenting accuracy, only two balls were on the pads and just about four balls on the third day were short. It was the full length around that Glenn McGrath zone outside off which proved to be the ultimate humiliation for Team India.

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