Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has said that India should take positive from the fact that they dominated a better part of the first two days of the opening Test at the Adelaide Oval and they should not let the ignominy of having suffered an embarrassing 36 all-out come in the way of the fact that they went neck-to-neck against the hosts in their den for six sessions before bottling all the hard work they’d done in a crazy 45 minutes of play on the third day.
With India having got bowled out for their lowest Test total in history, and with the likes of Virat Kohli, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami no longer available, one feels that it will be a humungous task for the Men in Blue to stage a comeback in the series. However, Gautam Gambhir disagrees with it completely, reminding everyone that it is just the first Test of the series, and there is still plenty of cricket that is set to be played.
“They will have to forget that because three Test matches are still left. And it is not that you are 3-0 down and you are looking to come back in the fourth Test, which is very difficult,” Gambhir said on the Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports.
“It is okay you lost the first Test match and were all out for 36, which is an embarrassment and the players will be feeling about that. But you need to remember that you were ahead for two days in the Test match. You were ahead in the Test match when the third day had started as well.”
After having been bowled out for 244, Indian bowlers responded emphatically- despite numerous dropped catches- as they skittled the famed Australian batting line-up for a mere 191 to eke out a 53-run lead. Gambhir hailed the Indian attack, adding that Australia will be wary in giving a spicy track against India as they know fully well that the Indian attack-led by Jasprit Bumrah can be equally devastating.
“You took a lead of 50 runs. You have got the bowlers who can get Australia all out. Probably a lot of the teams that went to Australia previously, they did not have the bowlers who could take 20 Australian wickets,” Gautam Gambhir explained.
“But you have those types of bowlers, so Australia will also get rattled by that. So, Australia will not give too spicy wickets because they know Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Ashwin can take their twenty wickets.” he added.
Gambhir, however, cautioned the Indian batsmen from targeting too high a total, adding if they aim too high then they will always be under pressure. He added that even if they post totals in the range of 200-250, it will keep them in the game as the bowling attack has the ability to put the opposition under sustained pressure.
”If you think about scoring 350-400 runs, then you will always keep yourself under pressure. You think about scoring 200-250 runs and give your bowlers runs on the board. Even if you give 250, you will remain in the game,” Gambhir added.
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