India on Tuesday lost the second Test against Australia at Perth by 146 runs after the visitors bowled them out for 140 runs in their second innings. India were chasing a target of 287 runs to take their lead to 2-0 in the four-Test series. India had won the first Test at Adelaide Oval.
India had scored 283 all out in their first innings in response to Australia’s 326. But thanks to Mohammed Shami’s splendid spell, Australia were all out for 243 in their second innings. India were 112 for five and needed 175 runs to win the match at the end of the fourth day’s play. Hanuma Vihari and Rishabh Pant were not out at 24 and 9 respectively.
Australia’s Nathan Lyon was adjudged Man Of The Match for his 8-wicket haul in the match.
Reacting to the defeat, Kohli said, “As a team I think we played well in patches which we can hold onto. Australia played much better than us with the bat. 330 on that pitch we felt was a bit too much. They deserved to win. We had the belief we could do it, but they were more relentless and put us in trouble.
“Our bowlers are outstanding as a pack, to see them dominate was really good to see and something we want to build on. They are relentless even if they aren’t getting wickets which is a great quality. When we looked at the pitch we didn’t think about Jadeja, but I thought Nathan bowled really well. We never thought we wanted to consider a spinner, thought four fast bowlers would be enough. When you don’t win you don’t really rank your performances so it’s irrelevant because we didn’t get the result we wanted. I’m just focused on the next Test.”
His Australian counterpart Tim Paine said, “It’s probably more a relief at the moment, first Test win has taken a while. Really proud of the players and staff. Good to get a little bit of reward. It was as difficult Test, both have been tough Tests. Two really competitive sides with good fast bowling attacks.
“The pitch was flying through. It seemed like the roller had a real effect on it. Day one was a bit of a funny one, we crossed our fingers. Marcus and Aaron, to get us none for 100 was brilliant and probably the difference in the end. Uzzie has been batting well for a long time, bowling really well to all of us. He’s in a really good space. It’s great to have Gaz, every team wants a spinner like Nathan Lyon. He loves bowling to the best players in the world.”
The next Test match will start in Melbourne on 26 December.