What went wrong for India in Adelaide Test against Australia?

Team India lost the second Test match against Australia by ten wickets, and the series is now level at 1-1. With this loss, India has now gone to third in the World Test Championship Table, with Australia and South Africa occupying the top two slots. Rohit Sharma’s side has their backs against the wall if they have to reach the WTC finals. 

After the huge win in Perth, many fans thought that India had the upper edge in the series. Pat Cummins and his men, though, yet again showed why they are called the masters of the Pink Ball matches. This was Australia’s 12th win in Pink Ball games out of the 13 matches they have played. 

Many questions will be asked about India’s capitulation with the bat in both innings. While Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne scored a century and fifty, respectively, none of India’s batters managed to score a fifty. Even the bowlers barring Jasprit Bumrah failed to perform well despite the conditions being helpful.

Here are the top 3 reasons why India lost the Adelaide Test

3: Poor captaincy by Rohit Sharma 

After Jasprit Bumrah’s aggressive captaincy in Perth, it seemed almost a déjà vu of the home series against New Zealand. On many occasions, Rohit Sharma let the game drift away from the grasp. Poor bowling changes and poor field placements with a new batter in place didn’t help matters. Rohit Sharma’s reluctance to use R. Ashwin for the majority of the 1st inning was also puzzling. 

2: Over aggression with the ball 

One of the keys to winning the Pink Ball Test match is to bowl straight and hold onto the 4th stump line. Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc were effective with their bowling across both innings. The wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal was a prime example of the lengths that were needed to be bowled at Adelaide. Harshit Rana was carted for 86 runs from his 16 overs, and his overexuberance with the ball cost India lots of runs. 

1. Poor batting form by senior batters

Indian team management must sit across the table and have a firm word with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. India’s two premier batters haven’t shown stomachs for a fight in tough conditions. Rohit Sharma in particular has been going through a lean patch for a long time, and his foot movements, as pointed out by Adam Gilchrist, have been a huge flaw. Virat Kohli time and again has fallen to the lengths on the 4th stump line, which has brought about his downfall.