BGT 2023: Where did Australia lose the Nagpur Test?

image-le13nr2hAshwin picked up 5 wickets in 2nd inning [Associated Press]

Well, the first Test between India and Australia ended inside 2.5 days. Was that surprising? I don't think so. Well before the Australians landed in India for the Border Gavaskar series, the mind games had already started, but they forgot that the real battle is fought on the field, and not through social media.

Too much pondering, tinkering with the playing XI, the Ashwin factor, everything went against them and the result was a one-sided affair in Nagpur.

So, what exactly happened? Why did they lose the first Test so badly? Let us try and decode

This was the biggest mistake that the Aussies made. Even before the series started, the likes of R Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja were already like demons in their minds. A doctored track was prepared in Sydney for the batters to tackle the spinners. When the WTC leaders landed in India, they invited a Ashwin replica into the net sessions, just to understand how someone like an R Ashwin works in Indian conditions. 

Too much blame was given to the Nagpur pitch even before a single delivery was bowled. It was as if the Pat Cummins led side were thinking that the ball will start to turn right from the first over itself. 

Injury worries pile on the misery

Now this is something which no one control. Injuries are part and parcel of life, but it came at the wrong time for the visitors. First, Mitch Starc got injured, then Cam Green broke his finger, and finally the ever-reliant, Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the first Test.

The presence of Green would have given a right-handed option for the Aussies to utilize, and the balance of the side would have been perfect. Hazlewood, one of the best exponents of reverse swing at the moment would have used the conditiosn to his advantage.

Australia will hope that by the time Delhi Test comes nearby, the key players get fit and fine for the all-important clash on February 17.

What happened to Lyon?

Arguably one of the best spinners of this generation, Nathan Lyon was a pale shadow of himself in the Nagpur game. 

He picked up just a solitary wicket in India's first innings, and hardly gave any support to the debutant - Todd Murphy, who by the way bagged seven Indian wickets on the same track. 

The Indian batters studied Lyon really well, and he certainly looked a bowler who was short of confidence and short of ideas on this spinning track.