Manjrekar reveals turning point of IND vs AUS 3rd Test; 'That is where India faltered'

Former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar analysed India's loss to Australia in the third Test as he thinks the home side got submerged in the hangover of their previous two victories. Australia showed a superior bowling display as they registered an excellent nine-wicket victory over India. The fourth and final Test will take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Indian batsmen surrendered to the Australian spinners as Matthew Kuhnemann and Nathan Lyon got the better of Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara in Indore. The Men in Blue now are in dire need of a victory in the fourth match as they could miss out on a place in the World Test Championship final.

Sanjay Manjrekar analyses India's loss to Australia in the third Test

Sanjay Manjrekar stated that he feels the Indian team were under a hangover due to their fluent wins in the first two matches. “I got the impression that India was carrying the hangover of the dominance that they had in the series so far. They won the toss and batted first for the first time," he revealed to Star Sports.

He further added that the players failed to assess the conditions rightly and got carried away with their shots. “So immediately the onus was on them to call the shots in the game and I thought they were just trying to dominate a bit too early and didn’t suss the pitch out. So too many attacking shots under the assumption that they knew the pitch and that is where I guess where India faltered."

Despite the absence of Pat Cummins, the Aussies showed the way how it needed to be done. The Australian fast bowler had to leave for personal reasons and Steve Smith did a fine job as he had the chance to lead the side. Smith will be the stand-in captain again for the fourth Test as Cricket Australia announced earlier.

The board also revealed a call has not been made regarding his availability for the ODI series.

"No call has yet been made on Cummins' availability for the three-match ODI series that follows the Tests, with the fast bowler having also been appointed as 50-over captain last year, " a statement read.