As India’s batting order suffered a collapse in the opening session of Indore Test, focus once again switched towards the pitch on offer for the 3rd Test. Once captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first, it was Australian spinners who ran riot on a strip that offered plenty of assistance to slow bowlers, leaving Indian batters and fans shell-shocked.
The Aussie spin duo of Matthew Kuhnemann and Nathan Lyon utilised the assistance on offer exceedingly well and sent five Indian batters back to the pavilion inside the opening hour of the Test match. The visiting spinners didn't allow Indian batters any breathing room and as a result, the hosts were bundled out for a paltry score of 109 runs.
Former Australia captain Ian Chappell criticised Indian batters for their lack of resistance against spinners and launched an attack on Shreyas Iyer, who could only manage a two-ball duck.
"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," he added.
India recorded their fourth lowest score against Australia in home Tests on a pitch that reared its ugly head on just the Day 1.
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