5 Reasons Why India Lost the Test Match at Perth

5 Reasons Why India Lost the Test Match at Perth

Reasons Why India Lost the Test Match at Perth

Reason #1 Top Order Fails Again

Both the Indian openers accumulated a total of 22 runs in 2 innings, whereas Australian openers consolidated a partnership of 100+ in the first innings and 40+ in the second innings.

Reasons Why India Lost the Test Match at Perth

The Indian openers looked uncomfortable with the pace and bounce of the pitch. Perth test was a test of skill and character, apart from Virat Kohli no Indian batsman showed application to build a big score. This could be the last opportunity for KL Rahul, his last 10 scores are 0, 37, 149, 0, 4, 33*, 2, 44, 2, 0.

kl rahul

Reasons Why India Lost the Test Match at Perth:- Both Parthiv Patel and Mayank Agarwal should be given the opportunity to open the innings in the next test match. Murali Vijay has played some instrumental knock overseas in the past but lacks consistency. He is a regular victim outside off stumps, pace and bounce don’t suit his technique.

Losing opening partners early puts an extra burden on the shoulders of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli. Kohli should try the rest of the openers, they are touring Australia to play, not warm the benches.

Reason #2 The Spin Factor

Nathan Lyon

Reasons Why India Lost the Test Match at Perth:-  Nathan Lyon was adjudged Man of the match in the second test at Perth. He is a world class spinner, who took 8 wickets in the match, which includes 5 wicket haul in the first innings. Indians have earned the reputation of spinner assassinator, but crumbled to quality spin bowling.

It was a pitch that was assisting spin bowling, but Virat Kohli chose to play with 4 pacers instead of giving any weight to spin department. He should have gone for Ravindra Jadeja instead of Hanuman Vihari. Jadeja is a clean striker of the bowl and bowls wicket-taking deliveries at regular intervals.

Hanuman Vihari took only 2 wickets in the match compared to Lyon 8. The absence of Ashwin cost India the match.

Reason #3 Picking Umesh Yadav Over Bhvaneshwar Kumar

Umesh Yadav

Reasons Why India Lost the Test Match at Perth:-  It seems Virat Kohli has some soft spot for Umesh Yadav, this is the reason he picks Umesh over Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. Playing Umesh Yadav in Perth test match is understandable; his hit the deck hard bowling action was a perfect blend with Waca wicket, but not at the cost of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.

Bhuvaneshwar can swing the ball in both the directions and is more than handy with the bat. He has 3 fifties under his belt. Umesh Yadav took only 2 wickets in the match and conceded 139 runs at an economy rate of 4.

Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has played exceptionally well in overseas conditions both with bat and ball. He is the best bet and has played an active role in India’s win overseas.

Reason #4 Naïve Tale Enders

Reasons Why India Lost the Test Match at Perth

It seems Indian tale Enders doesn’t know how to connect the ball with the bat. The last 4 Indian batsmen scored only 2 runs in the second innings compared to Australia 37 in 2nd innings.

Hanuman Vihari wicket fell at the score of 137 and in a span of 10 minutes India lost the rest four wickets only after adding 3 more runs to the total.

Australia tale ender accumulated score in the 4 innings was 71. Indian tale enders managed to score 11 runs in the last 4 innings.

Reason #5 Poor Team Selection

Reasons Why India Lost the Test Match at Perth

Kohli has displayed his poor team selection skills since he became an Indian test captain. His poor team selection has posted victories in Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and England. Let’s look at recent examples:

India vs. Australia 2014-15, Adelaide

It was the series where Dhoni retired amid the series, young Kohli was leading the team. In the Adelaide test, he chose Karnav Sharma over Ravichandran Ashwin. Ashwin absence cost India the match, Nathan Lyon picked 12 wickets in the match and won his team the match by 48 runs.

India vs. Sri Lanka 2015, Galle

In the match, Virat Kohli dropped Chesteshwar Pujara in place of Rohit Sharma. He also dropped opener Murali Vijay in place of KL Rahul. The result was India lost the match by 63 runs.

India vs. South Africa 2017- 18, Centurion

Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was in the red hot form before the series, but Kohli dropped Bhuvaneshwar Kumar in the Centurion test, who picked 6 wickets in the last test match. The result was India lost the test match by 135 runs.

India vs. England 2018, Lords

It was a wet damp pitch at Lords assisting pacers like hell. It was a fast bowler paradise, but Virat chose 2 spinners to play, who heavily relied on the pitch. The result was India lost the test match by an innings and 159 runs.

India vs. Australia 2018, Perth

It was the first time when India was one up down under and looked settled to seal the series after the second test, but that was not to be. Poor team selection again snatched the victory from our hands. This time Virat Kohli chose Umesh Yadav over Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Hanuman Vihari over Ravindra Jadeja. Both the decisions went horribly wrong and India lost the match by 146 runs.

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