In a devastating loss in Nagpur, India grabbed a 1-0 lead in the Border-Gavaskar series by defeating Australia by innings and 123 runs. The second Test will take place in New Delhi, and Australia, the top-ranked Test team, will be trying to make a comeback there in order to reach the World Test Championship final.
And who better to go to for motivation than their very own opponent, who two years ago Down Under had written a comeback of the ages? The issue now is whether or not they can improve upon their performance in the first Test. India’s captain, Rohit Sharma, was taken aback by the question before responding in dramatic way.
When India arrived in Australia two years ago to defend the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the hosts dominated the Pink Ball Test, restricting the visitors to only 36 runs. Most veterans, and even a few more when Virat Kohli returned home and several of India’s stalwart players became injured, wrote off India at the last minute. Australia was heavily favoured to win by a 4-0 margin since India was playing their B team.
India, led by Ajinkya Rahane, completed one of the greatest comeback stories of all time with a surprising triumph at Gabba after recovering from a loss in Adelaide, then winning in Melbourne and drawing valiantly in Sydney.
After India’s victory on Saturday at the VCA Stadium, a reporter questioned Rohit whether Australia could pull off a similar turnaround in India with three Tests left in the series, recalling India’s miraculous comeback in the 2020/21 series. Initially taken aback by the inquiry, Rohit eventually conceded that he did anticipate a response from Australia.
“Good one. Australia is always a good team. The good thing about this team is we don’t think about what has happened in the past. It’s important to stay in the present. Lot of the guys who played in that series are not here for Australia. For us as well, a few guys are missing,” he said.
“Australia love playing Test cricket. They pride themselves in coming out and representing their country. We are quite aware of them bouncing back. We are pretty much aware of what they can do as a team. By no means are we ruling them out. We want to play the cricket that we played in this game,” he added.
