Gavaskar defends India batsmen after 36-all out in Adelaide, says Aussie pacers were just too good

Adelaide: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar feels it’s unfair to blame the Indian batsmen for their poor batting display and said that Australian pacers were just too good on the third day of the Day/Night Test, here on Saturday.

The pace trio of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc weaved their magic and blew away the Indian batting order, as the visitors collapsed to their lowest total of 36 in Test history.

India’s earlier lowest score was 42 against England at the Lord’s in 1974.

Notably, Gavaskar was part of the India team that was shot out for 42 by England at Lord’s over 46 years ago.

“I mean, any team that is all-out for its lowest Test score since the time it started playing Test cricket, that’s never good to see.

But having said that, if any other team had been facing that kind of bowling, they would have also got out, maybe be not all-out for 36, maybe 72 or 80-90 but the way Hazelwood, Cummins bowled and the earlier three-over spell from Starc, they asked a lot of questions,” Gavaskar told Channel 7 after India’s eight-wicket loss.

“So it’s not fair to blame the Indian batsmen for the way they got out because it was just simply superb bowling by the Australian bowlers,” he added.

India suffered a dramatic collapse - from 9 for 1 to 36 all out - in the second innings on Day 3 and eventually lost the game by 8 wickets, after dominating the first two days, to concede a 1-0 lead in the four-match series against Australia.

The two teams will meet again in the Boxing Day Test which begins December 26th and will be played in Melbourne, where India will be without the services of skipper Virat Kohli, who will head back home on paternity leave. (UNI)