Former Australia cricketer-turned-commentator Michael Hussey wasn’t much impressed with Team India’s idea to hand the new ball to Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav despite enough damage done to Australia on Day 2 of the ongoing first Day-Night Test at Adelaide Oval.
With many expecting Mohammad Shami to share the new ball with Bumrah, Team India surprised all by calling Umesh, however, the tourists managed to get five wickets in the first session of play on Day 2 of Australia’s batting on Friday (December 18) in Adelaide.
Hussey believes that Team India should have opened the bowling with Shami since the speedster looked a lot more dangerous as compared to other bowlers in order to bring the batsmen forward and have a lot more chances to get the Australian wickets. He came into the attack only in the 9th over of the match.
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Well, R Ashwin’s spin magic did work against the Australian batsman as he scalped 3 wickets for just 27 runs in 11 overs while Bumrah picked up 2 wickets for 21 runs in 14 overs so far in the match. However, Umesh is yet to open his account but bowled brilliantly, conceding only 19 runs in 10 overs.
Hussey said on Sony Network: “I think India should have opened their bowling with Shami. It was a different game when India was bowling, they looked to pitch it up more and attack the stumps, and when he came on he was bringing the batsmen forward.”
The Aussie further added, “He looked a lot more dangerous. If he had that new pink ball in his hands he would have had a good chance of picking up a wicket for India.”
On India’s first innings, he opined: “But the bowling has been excellent, it really has. I think the Australians bowled beautifully yesterday, they made India work hard with their runs. India fought really back with the bat, particularly Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane. But as I said the pitch has quickened up today and the wickets have fallen quickly. But it doesn’t look easy for batting.”
Meanwhile, the hosts have so far could manage only 94 runs at the expense of 5 wickets and Hussey believes that it was the result of both poor batting and the pitch getting difficult to bat on in Adelaide.
Hussey signed off by saying, “It could be a combination of both. All the batsmen have said that it is a difficult pitch to get in on. There is a little bit of variable bounce and it was a little bit slower on the first day. I think it was quickening up a little bit today.”
(With India Today Inputs)
