BGT 2024-25: Former cricketer Madan Lal identifies 'main reason' behind India being humbled by Australia in Adelaide

New Delhi [India], December 8 (ANI): Former cricketer Madan Lal believes that the scarcity of runs from India's top batters was the main reason behind the visitor's thumping 10-wicket defeat against Australia in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Four years ago, one of the darkest chapters in the history of Indian cricket was written when India collapsed 36/9 in the second innings against Australia at the same venue with the same pink ball.
Fast forward to 2024, the 10-wicket defeat doesn't implicate the level India fell to in 2020 but stays true to the manner India's batters collapsed while facing the merciless Australian pacers.
After winning the toss and opting to bat, India failed to go past the 200-run mark once across both innings. Top-class performers featuring Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and skipper Rohit Sharma were tempted to give away their wickets cheaply to the likes of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins.
Madan Lal weighed in on the way India's established batting stars went down without giving much of a fight while featuring in the day-night Test format, which still remains an unfamiliar territory for the Asian Giants.
"We have a very good team. It is not like that scoring 175 ot 180 makes our team weak. The conditions of the match played with the pink ball were very difficult. Maybe the reason is we are not used to the pink ball," Madan Lal told ANI.
When one looks back at the Adelaide Test, which lasted for barely more than two days, it wasn't the new ball that caused Indian batters trouble but the old one.
Australia's pace express, comprising Starc, Cummins and Scott Boland, managed to take 14 scalps with the worn-out ball while giving away 159 runs.
On the other hand, India could only pick four with the old ball and conceded runs at a whopping rate of 4.27 per over. While the tourists failed to pile up runs on the boards, Travis Head made it look like a cakewalk with his 140-run blitzkrieg.
"The main reason for losing the Test match is that our top batters didn't score runs. We should have scored 300 runs, and that is the biggest reason. The second is Travis Head, who played brilliantly and scored 140 runs. He completely turned around the game because, on that wicket, 100 or 150-plus run lead is a lot," Madan Lal added.
With India's momentum from Perth going down in the slump, the Australia team have now emerged as a rejuvenated side as the series heads to Brisbane for a crucial match with series evenly tied at 1-1.
The thumping 295-run defeat in the BGT series opener has become a distant memory. The critics who bashed the hosts away for their lacklustre performance now hold their silence.
"Australia has learned a lot from the defeat in the Perth Test match. When you lose, you analyse what went wrong. They were criticised a lot. But they shut down critics in Adelaide," Madan Lal remarked. (ANI)