India were blown away for 36 runs on the third day of their first Test against Australia on Saturday. After taking a lead of 53 runs, India faltered and were all out for 36 — the joint fourth lowest score in 2,396 Test matches played over 143 years and ‘beating’ their own 42 all out against England in 1974 at Lord’s.
Australia won the first Test by eight wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.
India held the advantage at the start of the third day and so their collapse was met with a mixture of shock and sympathy by former cricketers on Twitter.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag was at his typical witty self. “The OTP to forget this is 49204084041. #INDvsAUSTest,” he tweeted.
India’s total was also just 10 runs short of the all time lowest Test total by any team, a record held by New Zealand against England in 1955. Sehwag’s former India teammate and batting legend Sachin Tendulkar chose to motivate the players, reminding them that there are still three more matches in this series.
“With the way India batted & bowled in the 1st innings, they were in the driver’s seat, but the Aussies came back really hard this morning. That is the beauty of Test cricket. It’s NEVER over till it’s over. India was outclassed in the 2nd half. Congratulations to Australia!” Tendulkar tweeted.
Tendulkar’s former arch rival and spin great Shane Warne, who was part of the commentary panel for FoxCricket, commended Australia fast bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, who finished with extraordinary figures of 4/21 and 5/8 respectively.
“Wow!! What a bowling display that was from Pat Cummins & Josh Hazlewood here in Adelaide. Just outstanding. Have to feel for the Indian batsman as never saw that coming – it was one of those days where the batsman nicked everything & didn’t play and miss at all ! Unbelievable…” Warne tweeted.
“It was a bad day today no doubt but remember it’s a 4 match series. We have bounced back in past and this team can do that too. #INDvAUS,” RP Singh tweeted. His former India team mate Irfan Pathan said that the fans expect better from India.
“Very disappointed with the result. We all expect the Indian team to play better cricket #INDvAUS,” said Pathan.
Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar said he was happy that India “broke” Pakistan’s “record”, although India’s previous lowest total of 42 was already lesser than Pakistan’s lowest of 49.
“I woke up & saw the score 369. I couldn’t believe it. Then i washed my eyes and saw the score 36/9. I couldn’t believe it either & went back to sleep. Video aa rahi hai,” he tweeted.
“Embarassing loss, embarassing batting. One of the strongest batting lineups in the world crumbling down,” said Akhtar in a video he later tweeted. “They even broke our record. All out for 36, this is a disgraceful performance. I am very happy that they broke our record. It happens in cricket, bear it, bear the criticism. This is going to happen to you know. Mighty India come crumbling down, this is bad.”
“Wait what happened? I just went to play 9 holes came back game over . What a spell by The Australians . Pace matters. #INDvsAUSTest,” said Akhtar’s former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram.