Prithvi Shaw’s early dismissal put India on the back foot: Adam Gilchrist

India’s batting collapse in the second innings of the day-night Test against Australia to register their lowest score in the purest format of the game, 36 for 9, has raised a lot of eyebrows. Many fans and cricket pundits coming up with questions and suggestions on what went wrong for India and how should they move further from this horrible outing.

In the first innings, the performance of India’s batting line-up wasn’t satisfactory either as they managed to post a total of 244 on the board purely because of the Virat Kohli masterclass of 74 runs. However, his dismissal had triggered a collapse as India had quickly gone from 188 for 4 to 244 for 10.

The former Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist analysed both the batting innings of India and came to the conclusion that the visiting side needs to address their batting woes especially the technique problem with Prithvi Shaw. Shaw is under major scrutiny after a horrendous performance in the Adelaide Test. He bagged a duck and 4 runs across two innings and lost his wicket in similar fashion both the times.

Speaking about Shaw, Gilchrist asserted that the opening batter has a technical fault and India should think twice before selecting him in the playing XI for the next Test against Australia. It is speculated that Gill will replace Shaw at the top for the Melbourne Test.

“In both innings, Prithvi Shaw’s early dismissal put the team on the back foot. Shaw was part of the team during the last India series here, and there has been plenty of hype and build-up around the youngster. This has also meant that his technique has been scrutinised and there was a clear plan to exploit the gap between his bat and pad that is a matter of concern for the youngster,” Gilchrist wrote in his column for Mid-Day.

“Shaw has also been prone to expansive shots which might backfire in Australian conditions, because he will be liable to edging one to gully. While he is a talented youngster, his performance will put the selectors in a dilemma as they plan for the Boxing Day Test,” he added.

India were not looking for scoring opportunities, says Adam Gilchrist

Further, the veteran pointed out that Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli had executed a super defensive batting in the first innings but the Indian players failed to replicate the same in the second innings which resulted in their downfall. Adam Gilchrist also observed that India wasn’t looking for scoring opportunities in the first innings but got saved due to a terrific knock by the skipper Kohli.

“Looking back at the first innings, I would think that the seemingly slow batting from Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli was, in fact, superb defensive batting. That was what India failed to replicate in the second innings. In the first innings it had seemed that India were not looking for scoring opportunities, but Kohli’s masterclass of concentration alongside Pujara and later Ajinkya Rahane is what ensured that India reached 244,” Gilchrist wrote.