Australian batting legends Allan Border and Matthew Hayden have slammed Pat Cummins and his men for their second innings collapse in the Delhi Test against India.
Leading by 62 runs, the visitors were in the driver’s seat when the play started on Day 3. However, left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja once again spun a web around the Aussies batters with the ball, picking a seven-wicket haul to bundle out the tourists for a paltry 113.
The hosts then chased down the 115-run target with six wickets in hand to retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy for fourth straight time.
“I’m disappointed, I’m shell-shocked, I’m angry about the way we went about our work today,” Border said on Fox Cricket.
“It was panicky, frenetic batting. No one tried to get in there and stem the flow with some good defensive cricket. They were just getting out playing sweep shots, reverse sweeps to just about every ball.
“You just can’t get away with that on this sort of track. You’ve got to have a method where you play within your limitations. You’re not playing on a flat belter where you can expand your game.
“When playing on a difficult surface, you’ve got to work out where your scoring options are and bat some time at the crease.”
On the other hand, former opener Hayden said: “I can’t believe what I’ve just witnessed they’re world-class players, and they’ve got everything to win in this session, and everything to lose.”
“They did it so well last (night) in those few overs, strong scoring rate, good defence, proactive batting, but what we’ve seen here is a disaster for Australia.
“It’s a disaster because they’ve gone way over the edge in terms of their aggressive play.”
Australia players’ shot selection came under the scanner in Delhi. They lost Steve Smith, Matthew Renshaw, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins and Matthew Kuhnemann to sweep and reverse-sweep shots in the second innings.
Hayden was particularly critical of Cummins, who despite seeing the collapse went for a big sweep.
“You’ve got to think on your feet plus read the game. You’ve got about 13 people in that dugout that aren’t playing the game, all having their say on it, and what they would have said knowing the trend of this venue is that first session is tricky — it’s not like the last session of day two, where the conditions slide on, ball is hard, drier wicket.”
“It’s a little tacky this morning, so think! And then plan in the middle accordingly as a partnership,” Hayden said.
Former batter Michael Hussey said Cummins and company blew the chance of keeping the series alive as India took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match rubber.
“They will be bitterly disappointed. Coming into today, they were in front of this Test match — nine wickets in hand with a 60-odd run lead,” Hussey said.
“Unfortunately they just gave it away … a lot of them gave their wickets away to the Indians.
“Yep they bowled well, but I feel as though they gave them their wickets.”
(With PTI Inputs)
