Former Australia international Simon Katich Tuesday said the Indian pacers' ability to maintain "scoreboard pressure" on impatient and needlessly aggressive home batsmen proved to be decisive in the visitors' maiden Test series triumph Down Under.
India won the four-Test series 2-1 with the fourth Test ending in a draw on Tuesday. Katich said that Australian batsmen couldn't manage period of pressure well enough.
"On previous tours they (pacers) haven't been doing well in these conditions. But in this series, this pace attack was magnificent and they built scoreboard pressure. They have got pace and variety, and they were also able to move the ball. Perhaps that has been the big difference in the two teams," Katich told PTI.
"India's bowlers were really patient and Australia's batsmen haven't been patient enough to withstand that pressure. And very good spinners backed up the pacers, whether it was R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav or Ravindra Jadeja," he said.
Katich said Australian batsmen did not apply themselves after getting starts.
"At times the Australian batsmen showed they could apply themselves well but they couldn't do it for long periods of time. You need to do it day-after-day in Test cricket. Marcus Harris had had a good series he has got time and a good technique. But he got a lot of starts and didn't go on to make a big one, much like the other batsmen.
"When Australia look back at the series, they will see they have got out trying to be too aggressive. They didn't show the right shot selection or right temperament at the right time in any Test match. There was too much one-tempo batting, rather than going with ebbs and flows while respecting the opposition bowling."
"They have still got Bhuvneshwar Kumar who hasn't played but he is a very good bowler and obviously a couple other youngsters in the pipeline coming through. Khaleel Ahmed has been around ODIs and T20Is."
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