New Delhi: India’s nigtmarish 36 all out in a day-night Test in Adelaide in 2020 is consigned to history and wouldn’t have any impact in the pink-ball match of the Border-Gavaskar series that begins on Friday, insists Ravi Shastri.
Under skipper Virat Kohli, India were skittled out for their lowest Test score in the second innings as Australia won the match by eight wickets. The victory is part of Australia’s seven consecutive wins in day-night Tests at the ground.
Shastri was coach of the team that plummeted to its lowest ebb in the opening match of thew 2020-21 series. They then bounced back to win the four-match conest 2-1.
“I don’t think it (Adelaide drubbing) will play any role but it should be at the back of their mind because you know things happen very quickly with a pink ball,” Shastri told The ICC Review.
‘Unlucky’
India have won the last four BGT series and have already taken a 1-0 lead in its ongoing edition, pounding the Aussies with a 295-run pounding at Perth.
“You realise that in a session of play if things don’t go your way and the bowling is good, things can happen rapidly,” Shastri said.
The former all-rounder said India’s 36 all out was a freak incident, claiming to not have seen so many nicks going to the fielders hands in his long association with the game in various capacities.
“What we did after that 36 was — like I said at that time — that I’d never seen, and I said it in the dressing room, I’d never seen so much of playing and nicking as opposed to playing and missing,” Shastri, who is a successful commentator, said.
“And I’d watched cricket for about 40 years. And to be honest, that was a session where hardly any player played and missed. If he did anything, he got a nick. So it was not beating the bat. You know, the bowlers (being) unlucky… it was just the batsmen being unlucky on that day.”
Shastri said that India should look to firm up their supremacy in the series after dominating at Perth.
“Now the fact that they are one-up, should put them in a really great frame of mind going ahead in this Test match because I think it’s a massive opportunity for India to tighten the screws further. The pressure will be on Australia.
“In my mind, it was very clear you can’t do worse than that (Adelaide). You’ll have a day when the luck is in your favour and you can bounce back. And that’s exactly what happened,” he said.
“Sometimes you don’t over-think when something as drastic as that happens. You don’t want a knee-jerk reaction taking place where you just lose the plot. Sometimes calmness in situations like that produce the best results.”
Shastri said that India should look to firm up their supremacy in the BGT series after dominating Australia at Perth. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
