Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma© AFP
Indian cricket team skipper Rohit Sharma joined an embarrassing list as his side slumped to a 10-wicket defeat against Australia in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide on Sunday. The visitors were completely outplayed as the match lasted for just seven sessions and it was Rohit’s fourth consecutive Test defeat as captain. As a result, he equalled the unwanted feat achieved in the past by MS Dhoni, Datta Gaekwad and Kapil Dev. During his stint as captain, Sachin Tendulkar lost five Test matches on the trot while legendary cricketer MAK Pataudi is at the top of the list with six defeats as captain in Test cricket.
Indian cricket team skippers who have lost 4 or more Test matches in a row
6 MAK Pataudi (1967-68)
5 Sachin Tendulkar (1999-00)
4 Datta Gaekwad (1959)
4 MS Dhoni (2011)
4 MS Dhoni (2014)
4 Virat Kohli (2020-21)
4 Rohit Sharma (2024)*
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s never-ending technical problems against both pace and spin has set the alarm bells ringing as Indian batters capitulated twice in just 81 overs to lose the ‘pink ball’ Test against Australia by a comprehensive 10-wicket margin on the third day.
Australia maintained their unblemished record in day/night Tests and levelled the five-match series 1-1, bouncing back in style after their Perth debacle.
It was shortest-ever Test between India and Australia in terms of balls bowled. Only 1031 balls were bowled out of a possible 2700 legal deliveries.
Starting the day at 128 for 5, Nitish Kumar Reddy’s (42) cavalier approach prevented a second successive innings defeat under lights at Adelaide as India were bowled out for 175.
Australia needed to score just 19 runs and they completed the formalities in just 3.2 overs.
India’s second innings lasted only 36.5 overs, with skipper Pat Cummins using the short ball effectively to claim 5 for 57. Scott Boland (3/51) inflicted early damage, while Mitchell Starc (2/60) chipped in with crucial wickets.
Such was the dominance of the three premier Australian quicks that Cummins didn’t even need Mitchell Marsh and Nathan Lyon to roll their arms in the second innings.
In fact, the specialist spinner and all-rounder bowled just five overs between them in the entire game.
After a facile 295-run win in Perth, Indian batting unit won’t be too amused to learn that they survived a total of 81 overs across both innings, which isn’t even a whole day of Test match batting.
(With PTI inputs)
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