New Delhi: Australia lost the Delhi Test against India and is 2-0 behind in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Ending day 2 on a high note, they collapsed in the morning of day 3 and India eventually emerged as the victorious ones, courtesy of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin’s spin web. Meanwhile, Australia’s former World Cup-winning captain, Michael Clarke, pointed out the visitor’s mistakes coming to the tour.
Clarke said that Australia’s biggest mistake was not playing a tour game coming into the 4-match series, he insisted that they should have played at least one practice game to get used to the conditions. There was a lot of debate on Australia’s approach to not play tour games. The Aussies chose to simulate similar pitches and even brought in a local bowler who bowled like Ashwin.
And it’s not the only “major, major, major mistake” the Australians made in India ?
REACTION ? https://t.co/gWB81jDWuQ pic.twitter.com/DkFG9G6wR9
— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) February 20, 2023
He also pointed out that not playing Travis Head in the first Test was another mistake. Head was the difference in the second game as he scored 43 off 46 to help Australia get a good start to their second inning.
Clarke bashed the Australian team for just playing sweep against the spin. Five of the Australian batters got out to sweep or reverse sweep in the second inning and Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey seem to have no other shot in their book. Michael Clarke said these were not the right conditions for the sweep at the start of the inning and the sports staff does not matter, a batter playing at the highest level should calculate the risk versus reward.
He advised that they should play with the straight bat and hit with the spin. The former batter also said that Australia should have learnt from the hosts who knew the conditions.
Clarke also criticised Pat Cummins for field choice and said that there were two-and-a-half days left and he chose to go with four fielders on the boundary. He added that they were either getting India all out under 100 or losing the game, while it was shocking to see the field setting in Delhi.
In the game, Australia scored 263 in the first inning as Khawaja gave a good start with his 81 and Peter Handscomb played a mature inning of 72 off 142. India witnessed a top-order collapse when Nathan Lyon picked a five-wicket haul. It was the 114-run stand between Axar Patel and Ashwin that took India to 262.
Head started well and Marnus Labuschagne looked in good shape, but Australian batters could not understand Jadeja’s deliveries keeping low and got wrapped up for 113 as the left-arm spinner took seven wickets. Rohit Sharma gave a cracking start with his 31 off 20 and Cheteshwar Pujara and KS Bharat chased down the total.