India’s batting woes continued on the first day of the Adelaide Test against Australia, but Cheteshwar Pujara emphasised one positive: the intent of KL Rahul and Shubman Gill at the crease. Their 69-run partnership was the only substantial resilience in an otherwise disappointing performance by the Indian batting line-up.
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Pujara praised the duo for their early assessment of the pitch and handling of the Australian bowlers, though he acknowledged that their inability to convert the start into a big score in the end hurt the team.
India faced an immediate setback when Mitchell Starc dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal off the first ball of the pink-ball Test. Despite the early defeat, Rahul and Gill steadied the innings for a short spell, combining resilience with a touch of aggression.
‘Their intent was really good. They were quite positive. They forced players to move length because they were bowling high. They played really well, but they forced the Australian players to move back a length and that’s where I think we didn’t cope well.
Most of the dismissals from our top order, apart from Yashasvi, KL came out on a ball that was going up a bit, Virat came out on a ball that was back of length. It was not decided whether to play or leave that ball, and Gil came out on a fuller ball,’ Pujara said.
‘So we didn’t deal well with the back of length balls, which is the key, especially with the new ball. With the pink ball and I thought that middle order could have batted a little bit better,’ he added.
However, once their partnership broke down, with KL Rahul struck out for 37 and Shubman for 31, India’s batting collapsed again, a recurring theme in this series. From a precarious 69/2, the team slipped to 180 all out, with Nitish Kumar Reddy’s combative 42 as the only other bright spot in the innings.
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