Letting Indian batsmen build mammoth partnerships has hurt Australia the most in the series, visiting paceman Peter Siddle lamented on Sunday.
In the first two Tests and also in the ongoing third match, India batsmen made merry, raising match-winning partnerships.
Courtesy Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan’s 289-run opening-wicket stand, India are in an advantageous position in the third Test, heading for an exciting finish.
“We have let ourselves down by letting partnerships get too big on us. If you take that out of the equation, our bowling unit has been pretty strong. We have built pressure from both ends, whether it was the spinners getting the wickets or if it was quicks at the other end. As all round unit we haven’t executed quite as well we would have liked. Obviously we have had to pay for that,” Siddle told reporters at the end of fourth day’s play in the third Test versus India.
In response to Australia’s 408, India were on Sunday bowled out for 499 that included knocks of 187 and 153 by Dhawan and Vijay. Siddle got five scalps including those of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja.
Asked if Australian spinners should have taken more wickets on turning tracks, Siddle said, “It is hard to say.
You can say that and you can also say that the Indian batsmen have played them well. (M S) Dhoni in the first match was outstanding. Two boys (Dhawan and Vijay) had big partnership.”
He said once the Australians managed to break the stands the spinners have played “quite unbelievable role” for them.
Asked where the match is headed from here, he said he cannot predict the result but the fight is definitely on.
“It’s going to be hard, but definitely yes, the first session is going to be big for us tomorrow morning. We will try as hard as we can to score runs and not lose too many wickets. Hughes is out there and he has batted superbly. Hopefully, he can dig in and bat longer and obviously keep fighting,” Siddle said.
