India vs Australia, 3rd Test - Talking Points and Who Said What?

As the dramatic third Test between India and Australia finally comes to a close, the Aussies have finally won a match after being dominated in the first two Tests against India. After sensational performances by Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, and Travis Head, the visitors were able to win the third Test by nine wickets.

After the match, India still has the lead in the series, 2-1. Their quest for a guaranteed spot in the World Test Championship continues, as they will look for it in the fourth Test. As the final Test match of the series approaches, let’s have a look at the talking points and who said what from the third Test in Indore.

The Indore pitch:

The pitches at the Border-Gavaskar Trophy have been talked about in length right from the start. Out of the three Tests, the one in Indore was the most controversial. The Holkar Cricket Stadium pitch was an absolute nightmare for the batters, and many experts opined that it was not up to the mark.

Nathan Lyon’s brilliance:

Veteran Australian spinner Nathan Lyon once again dismantled the batting line-up of team India. The 35-year-old picked up three wickets in the first innings and followed it up with eight wickets in the second innings. Lyon dominated the Indian batters throughout the game and was instrumental part of Australia’s victory.

Cheteshwar Pujara’s resilience:

As the Indian batters departed quickly in the second innings of the third Test, it was veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara who stood at the crease and gave the hosts a fighting chance. The 35-year-old scored 59 runs off 142 deliveries and was influential for the hosts. However, his knock was in vain, as Australia ultimately won the game by nine wickets.

Winning skipper Steve Smith said - 

I think obviously that first day, losing the toss and having to bowl first. But our bowlers did really well, especially Kuhnemann. All our bowlers contributed. With the bat, Usman was really good in the first innings. We had some good partnerships. India bowled really well in the back end, and we had a bit of a collapse. We had to toil hard yesterday, Pujji played a good knock, but all our bowlers did really well. It was a complete performance in the end. We are thinking of Patty back home; our thoughts are with him. But I really enjoyed this week. I like captaining in this part of the world. I think I understand a lot of the intricacies. It's a place where I really enjoy, and I think I did a reasonable job this week. The approach will be much the same. We have to see how the conditions are like. It's good to be in the WTC final, but it's just about playing good cricket. Hopefully we can finish the series well."

Losing skipper Rohit Sharma said - 

When you lose a Test match, there's a lot of things that didn't go our way. To start with, we didn't bat well in the first innings. We understand how important it is to put runs on the board in the first innings. And obviously, when they got a 80-90 run lead, we needed to put in a big performance with the bat, but we couldn't do that, taking just a 75-run lead. Honestly, we haven't thought about it yet. We just finished this Test now so we need to regroup and try. We need to understand that we need to improve as a team. When you are playing on challenging pitches, you have to bowl. We allowed their bowlers to bowl in one spot. Not to take any credit away from their bowlers, Nathan Lyon especially. We had to try and be brave, which I think we were not. We can take a lot of credit as well, how we batted in the first two games. One odd game can happen where things don't come together, but even then, you need players to come together and chip in. We wanted a few guys to stand up, but it didn't happen. We were slightly behind, and we did not apply ourselves the way we would have liked to."

Player of the Match Nathan Lyon said - 

It's been a pretty remarkable series. But to come out here and put on a good team performance, it was pretty special. I don't have all the skills and all the tricks in the trade, but the one thing I have is the belief in my stock ball. And I think if you have that, you can get success. I don't think I've mastered it. I've been lucky enough to challenge some of the best players to play the game, the likes of Virat, Pujji, and the rest of the guys. I just like challenging myself."