Former Indian pacer Ajit Agarkar did not seem pleased with skipper Rohit Sharma’s tactics in the first hour of Day 2’s first session. India remained wicketless in the first hour of day’s play at Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore. Unlike Day 1, Rohit decided to hand the ball to Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj on March 2 morning with Ravindra Jadeja operating from other end. When Siraj was taken off the attack, Axar Patel took his place. Agarkar was baffled by team India’s approach and did not mince his words in the commentary box.
"Don't think India have been spot-on with their tactics. No Ashwin in the first hour? He is your premier bowler and has bowled only 16 overs so far. I know Axar Patel is playing as a specialist spinner but got to go to Ashwin. It's baffling," Agarkar said in commentary.
"It's what he does to the right-handers from around the wicket that can really cause confusion. One might spin, and one might not. We've already seen Smith in this series, the one that ran past his bat," former Australia pacer Mitchell Johnson agreed.
"At the moment, it seems that the pitch has lost a bit of a bite but certainly there's a lot in it," Agarkar continued to make his point.
"He has been warming up since morning," former head coach Ravi Shastri said.
Rohit finally gave the ball to Ravichandran Ashwin as India remained wicketless for almost an hour. Ashwin who had remained wicketless on Day 1 after bowling 16 overs, got the much-needed breakthrough with Peter Handscomb's wicket. Ashwin continued to bowl in right areas and took two more wickets. With Umesh Yadav reverse-swinging the ball from the other end, the two bowlers caused a collapse. Australia lost six wickets in a space of just 11 runs and got all out for 197.
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Australia threw away the advantage as they managed an 88-run lead in the first innings after bundling out India for 109 on Day 1.
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With three wickets, Ashwin also surpassed former India all-rounder Kapil Dev’s tally of international wickets. The Tamil Nadu-born off-spinner now has 689 wickets from 269 international games.
