Indore, Mar 02, 2023, IANS

Indore, March 2 (IANS): Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh backed opener Shubhman Gill after his poor show in the ongoing Test third Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy saying "batters can't survive on Indore pitch with defence."

Gill, who paved his way into playing XI replacing KL Rahul, failed to capitalise on the opportunity as he scored mere 21 and 5 in both innings, respectively.

"See, the game plan is simple here. You can't survive on this pitch with defence. Pujara was using his feet throughout his innings. If you're thinking that you can wait out for a spell and score runs later, it won't work. Even if you're playing on 70-80 on this pitch, you can get out with just one odd delivery," Harbhajan said on Star Sports.

"You have to look out for the opportunity to score runs. You need to see where you can get a four. Shubman wanted to go for a six, and when you consider the pitch condition here, his approach was right because you can't defend on this pitch for long," he added.

India was bundled out for just 109 after opting to bat first on day one of the third Test, where Australia's left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann claimed his maiden five-fer.

In the second innings off-spinner Nathan Lyon completed his second eight-wicket haul in Test cricket to bowl out India for 169 and put Australia on the verge of a victory in third Test at the Holkar Stadium on Thursday.