Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has said that the Pat Cummins-led side made a major mistake by opting not to play tour games in India before the four-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 series.
Australia trails 0-2 in the series as they lost the first Test in Nagpur by an innings and 132 runs and then recently lost the second match in Delhi by six wickets after being shot out for 113 despite being 61/1 at one stage in their second innings.
India chased down the 115-run target with ease and retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as a result of the 2-0 lead.
Australia had opted to have practice sessions on Alur grounds in Bengaluru instead of tour games and Michael Clarke termed this as their ‘biggest mistake’. He also said not playing Travis Head in Nagpur was an error on the visitors’ part.
“I’m not surprised by what I’m seeing because we didn’t have a tour game. Major, major, major mistake. There should have been at least one game over there to get used to the conditions,” Clarke said on Monday on Big Sports Breakfast.
“Selection for the first Test, major, major mistake. Second Test, blokes sweeping, we saw enough of that the first Test match. They’re not the right conditions to sweep when you start your innings. And they’re never going to be the right conditions to reverse sweep against the spin at the start of your innings,” said Clarke.
While Australia had been bowled out for 177 and 91 in Nagpur Test while trying to defend against Indian spinners; in Delhi, the Kangaroo batters opted to play sweeps and reverse sweeps against Ashwin and Jadeja and were dismissed easily on a track with low bounce.
“It doesn’t matter how many support staff there are around, you’re playing for Australia. Surely as a batsman playing at the highest level, you calculate that risk versus reward. Against spin bowling on a pitch like that, you would say my ‘swim between the flags’ is play straight, hit with spin. Let’s just stick to those two theories. Straight bat … I’m going to be playing every single ball with the spin,” said Clarke.
He also added that Australia should have learned from India how to bat in spin-friendly conditions.
“It’s like we’re not watching India bat. Why would you not look at that example and go, ‘OK, these guys know the conditions so well, and this is how they’re playing’. Why would we try and do something different when they have been so good? The game was there for us to win if we make 200… and we were 1-60,” he added.
Clarke also questioned Pat Cummins’ field placements on Sunday.
“I’m not sure what happened with our tactics. We had just 100 runs on the board. At one stage, Patty Cummins had four blokes on the boundary. There’s 2½ days left in the Test match. You’re either bowling India out for under a hundred or you’re losing: one or the other.
If you lose in 20 overs, or you lose in two days, it’s irrelevant. So fielders get up, bat-pad off side, bat-pad leg side. If the ball turns, if the ball bounces, if the ball shoots along the ground, if you make an error in judgment, you are getting out. That’s what Australia had to do with the ball. I know it’s only a tiny run lead, but we had to still try and win the game, and we had mid-off back, mid-on back, deep point, deep square leg. What was I watching?” Clarke concluded.
(PTI inputs)
