“Major, major, major mistake,” Michael Clarke lambasts Pat Cummins and co. for not having tour games
Another mistake Australia did was not selecting Travis Head in the first Test, claimed Clarke.
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Michael Clarke lambasts Pat Cummins and co. for not having tour games
Australia’s inability to play spin was clearly visible in the first two Tests against India, and that is why former Australia captain Michael Clarke listed out “major, major, major” mistakes Pat Cummins’ men did. Clarke lambasted the visitors for not playing a tour game before the start of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
Clarke had previously questioned Australia’s approach of skipping the warm-up matches. Australia had opted not to play them because they feel India do not prepare pitches properly during those tour games. Australia instead prepared turning tracks in Sydney for a practice session, before flying to Bengaluru for the four-day training camp ahead of the first Test. But two weeks later, the Baggy Greens are 0-2 down, with the host retaining the trophy.
“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 Big Sports Breakfast.
“Selection for the first Test, major, major, major mistake. Second Test, blokes sweeping, we saw enough of that [in] 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,” he added.
Michael Clarke claims Australia should have played Travis Head in 1st Test
Another mistake Australia did was not selecting Travis Head in the first Test, claimed Clarke. Head is considered a good player of spin so not including him was a “major, major, major” mistake.
Clarke also questioned Australia’s approach of playing a lot of sweep shots against spin. Half of the Aussie batters exited the field to sweep or reverse sweep on the pitch which offered low bounce.
Clarke then added that Australia should have learned from India how to play on a turning track. In the Nagpur Test, Rohit Sharma smashed a century, while Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja scored their respective half-century. No batsmen from the visitors’ side could reach that mark. Clarke also questioned Cummins’ field placements.
In the second Test, India needed to chase down a small target of 115 runs, which Rohit Sharma’s men did easily. Courtesy of Ravindra Jadeja‘s seven-wicket haul, the host skittled out the No.1 Test team once again, winning back-to-back Tests within three days.
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