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Former Delhi cricketer and Virat Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma feels that Australia's thumping loss against India in the Nagpur Test may have given the visitors some mental scars.
The hosts steamrolled the Aussies, handing them a loss by an innings and 132 runs. Rajkumar shed light on how Rohit Sharma and Co. just didn't let Pat Cummins and his men even have a foot in the door.
Speaking to India News, Rajkumar Sharma explained why it would be nearly impossible for Australia to stage a fightback in the series. He said:
"India have landed a psychological blow to Australia. There was already so much talk about the pitch and how it's going to play, and then the way our spinners bowled, they just didn't let Australia even compete in the game. It is going to be very difficult for them to come back in the series after such a comprehensive loss."
Former selector Saba Karim was also present on the panel and gave his opinion on how Australian batters handled quality spin. He added:
"There's no doubt that Australia just couldn't figure out how to play spin. It wasn't a bad wicket to bat on and all it needed was some application and patience from the batters. But even when the conditions were good for batting, Australia couldn't score big. This hasn't happened for the first time as touring teams of the past also have had a problem in understanding how to play spin here."
Australia failed to show any character against India: Reetinder Sodhi
Former cricketer Reetinder Sodhi was also present in the discussion and slammed the Aussies for their lack of 'character' in the first Test. When the visitors were pushed into the corner, they just couldn't come back in the game and that's what Sodhi was disappointed with.
On this, he stated:
"We have also faced challenges when we have gone to Australia, but we have shown character to bounce back. But this Australian team failed to show any character as they were comprehensively beaten. They will be thinking why they traveled to India. Although they may perform better by going back to the drawing board, this has been a stupendous dominance from the hosts."
The second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 will be played on Friday, February 17.
