The Australian captain Pat Cummins flies back home after losing the 2nd Test match against India by six wickets played at Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi on 19 February 2023.
Pat Cummins flowed back to Australia due to a serious family illness but will return to take part in the preparation for the third Test match to be played in Indore from 1 March onwards. In case of Cummins not returning, Steve Smith will take over the captaincy material.
Indian Cricket team produced a dominating performance retaining the Border Gavaskar series for the fourth successive time. Arun Jaitley Stadium helped the spinners a lot with Pat Cummins playing little role in the first innings. Nathan Lyon was the pick of bowlers for Australia in the first innings with 5 wickets keeping pressure on Indian batters.
Australia would look to improve their performance in the next two Test matches and help them to draw the series. Pat Cummins would be available for 3-match ODI series against India a build-up for the 2023 World Cup to be played in India.
Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the series due to an injury. David Warner is in doubt for the remaining two Test matches he suffered a concussion during the first innings of the 2nd Test as well as a hairline fracture in his elbow.
Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green are expected to be fit for the third Test which will be a big boost for the Australian side. Todd Murphy played with soreness during the second innings in New Delhi but would get enough time between tests to fit enough. Mitchell Swepson is expected to join the squad after traveling home for the birth of his child.
Australia’s batting order struggled
The Australian batting looked out of sorts against the Indian spin twins of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin on the 3rd day. Starting on 62 for 1, Travis Head was dismissed in the very first over by Ashwin.
Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Pat Cummins, and Alex Carey played bad shots on a low pitch. They could only add 52 runs and lost 9 wickets in the first session to be bowled out for 113.
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