Australian legend Allan Border brutally criticized the Pat Cummins-led side after they surrendered against India on Day 3 of the 2nd Test in Delhi.
Where did it all go wrong for Australia in the second Test? The most common answer has been Australia’s strategy to use the sweep shot against India’s spinners.
Talking on this matter, Border said, “They have got to turn off their radios and stop reading newspapers for the next couple of days, that’s for sure because they’re going to call peeps but yeah they’ve got to sit down and talk about the methodology of playing quality spin bowling. Obviously, they have had meetings about this and how to go about it. You have got to have a method and don’t think cross-bat is the right method, not initially in your innings.”
The legendary batter then explained how Usman Khawaja’s sweep attack didn’t work later in the game due to changing conditions.
“Usman Khawaja played really well in the first innings on the back of a lot of good reverse sweeps but as the pitch got lower that became more dangerous shots so they had to reassess and that’s what Test match batting is all about. You might scratch yourself around for a first 15-20 runs but then you get yourself in and then all of a sudden the innings start to flow because you get used to the conditions,” he explained.
“I do feel bad for the batters because you are learning on the job and cope with this sort of bowling. It’s a tough one and I don’t know what the answer is,” he concluded.