IND vs AUS: Stand-in skipper Steven Smith-led Australia strangled hosts India in the spin trap as the visitors defeated Rohit Sharma & Co. by nine wickets in two days and a session to win Ind vs Aus 3rd Test in Indore. By virtue of this win, Australia qualified for ICC World Test Championship (WTC). In last two years, Australia have so far defeated Pakistan, Sri Lanka & India in one Test each. For India to make it to the WTC finals, they will have to win the fourth and final Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy, set to be hosted in Ahmedabad. India lost Indore Test but still have a 2-1 lead in the four-match IND vs AUS Test series.

Meanwhile, former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar, one of the most respected voices in cricket fraternity, feels Ravindra Jadeja’s no-ball in second session of Day 1, that gave Aussie batter Marnus Labuschagne another life, was the ‘turning point’ of Ind vs Aus 3rd Test match. Labuschagne was batting on zero when a stunner by Jadeja rattled his stumps but the Aussie survived as the all-rounder had overstepped the crease, resulting in a no-ball.

“If you look back, you will say that is probably what cost India the match because after that they (Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja) stitched a partnership of 96 when India were dismissed for 109. So I think that was probably the turning point. That no ball cost India the match,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

“Batters actually didn’t do justice to their talent. If you look at the Indian wickets, you will find it is the Indian batters who got themselves out, playing some shots anticipating that this is what the pitch is going to do,” Gavaskar added.

“If you look there is a lack of confidence because in the first two matches, they did not get runs, apart from Rohit Sharma, who got a lovely hundred in Nagpur. When you are short of runs, there is just that little tentativeness in their batting. And you can sense that they were feeling for the deliveries.

“They were not able to go down the pitch as much as they should have. They let the pitch overtake them. It was the pitch that actually started to play on their minds, even in the first innings but more so in the second innings,” he said.

Gavaskar also said hosts India, batting first, scored 60-70 runs short in first innings.

“The pitch started to talk in the first hour itself, so it wasn’t going to be easy but still if we had made 160-170 in the first innings that could have made the difference,” the batting great said.