3 reasons why India lost the 3rd Test against Australia in Indore

Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne ensured Australia faced no jitters, as India failed to defend 76 in the third Test in Indore. On a pitch that offered excessive assistance to the spinners, the combination of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja could not run through Australia as Head and Labushcagne raced towards the target after a watchful start.

With this win, Australia have sealed their berth in the World Test Championship final. India, on the other hand, will now look to win the last match in Ahmedabad to book their berth. For a side that was dominant in the first two matches, this loss will certainly force the management to sit down and take note ahead of the last match.

Here, we take a look at three reasons why India lost the Indore Test match:

#3 No counter-attack game

Shubman Gill could not impress on his return

In both innings, the Indian batters failed to shift pressure on the Australian bowlers. While there were attempts made by the openers in both innings, it did not yield any result and hence, the rest of the batting order was forced to play defensive cricket and this allowed the Australian spinners to hone in and apply pressure on the Indian batters.

Shreyas Iyer did go on the offensive for a brief period in the second innings, but his knock was short-lived. Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne showed in their chase that attacking the spinners on this particular surface was the best way forward. The lack of confidence in the hosts' top-order filtered out after this win.

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#2 Not proper use of Axar Patel – the batter

Axar Patel has looked India's best batter

Axar Patel might not have been used much with the ball, but he has looked perhaps the most secure batter across all three Test matches so far. However, he was left stranded at the end of India’s second innings and this is where the management missed a trick.

Axar looked in control right through his stay and his performances with the bat so far in the series could have seen him be promoted up the order. Jadeja has not looked comfortable against Nathan Lyon in the last three innings and Axar could have replaced him in the batting order. The ability to be flexible with the batting order might have cost the hosts around 50 runs in this Test match.

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#1 Batting collapses

No big score for Virat Kohli

The Indian batters have not been at their best in this Test series. Barring Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara, none of the other batters in the top and middle order have shown any fight. While Virat Kohli has looked assured against the spinners, he has not been able to kick on and score decisively.

The lack of runs from the top and middle order has been masked by the brilliance of the lower order, but in Indore the pitch never allowed any respite and this showed in their dismal batting performance.

While there might not be big changes for the last Test match, the experienced batting order could well be skating on extremely thin ice.