'Wasn't expecting to.....' - Rohit Sharma surprised after winning first Test against Australia

Rohit Sharma didn't expect Australia to collapse (Source: Twitter)

Rohit Sharma-led India completed a dominant victory over Australia on Saturday in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. The hosts, eyeing a place in the final of the Global Test Championships and a third-straight Test series win against the men from down under, have taken a 1-0 lead in the 4-Test series.

Talking to the media after the game, the India skipper revealed that he didn’t expect Pat Cummin’s men to collapse within one single session on Day 3. Notably, after losing the toss and being forced to field first, the Indians did a brilliant job of restricting the Aussies to just 177.

India won the first Test by an innings and 132 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the BGT series

In reply, the hosts rode on Rohit’s brilliant hundred and excellent contributions from Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel towards the end to take a first-innings lead of 223 runs. However, Australian batters couldn’t handle India’s spin twins as Jadeja and Ashwin shared 15 scalps among them in the game, bowling the visitors out for a mere 91 in their final innings.

“No, I didn’t (expect to bowl Australia out in one session). We were prepared to have hard day’s bowling, spending session after session. We never thought they would get bowled out in a session. As you saw, the pitch became slower and slower, and there was no bounce on the pitch, so it was a bit of surprise for me,” the Indian skipper said in the post-match press conference.

Talking about the talks about the pitch before the game, the 35-year-old added,

“I don’t know the mental status of the Australian team. I can vouch for our team, and we are the ones who want to play on pitches like these and not just from now. We have been playing on pitches like these for last 3-4 years. Because we have all grown up playing on pitches like these, so there is no talk about pitches anymore in the changing room.”