The pitch started to play on Indians’ mind: Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar

Legendary Sunil Gavaskar on Friday came down heavily on the Indian batters for their below-par show in the third Test against Australia, saying the "pitch played on their minds".

On a surface that offered sharp turn and variable bounce from the get-go, India were dismissed for 109 and 163 as Australia qualified for the World Test Championship final with a thumping nine-wicket win on the third morning.

"The 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 told Star Sports.

"If you look, there is 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 the 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 added.

Also read: Stop this pitch talk!

Gavaskar felt India were 60-70 runs short in the first innings, after opting to bat first. "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.

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