With most of the Australian batsmen struggling in the first three Test matches of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with the exception of Travis Head, former Indian coach Ravi Shastri had called the Australian batting ‘brittle’ and believes Indian bowlers will be exploiting that. While Head leads the most runs scored list in this series, only two Australian batsmen including Alex Carey and Steve Smith have crossed the 100-run mark in the series.
“I think it’s been pretty brittle. When you look at this Australian line-up, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen an Australian line-up where the top order is that brittle. India have exploited that and continue to exploit it,” Shastri told news.com.au when asked about Australian batting.
While Travis Head has hit two centuries and one half-century in the series, the only Australian batsman showing consistency in the series has been wicket-keeper Alex Carey.
None out of Australia’s top three in the three Tests so far have crossed the 50-run mark. Openers Usman Khawaja and now-excluded Nathan McSweeney have struggled mostly with the new ball with Marnus Labuschagne too struggling in terms of runs. The trio has a total of 217 runs among themselves in the three Tests so far in the series and Shastri counts youngster Sam Konstas to do the work for Australia. “As far as Konstas goes, I think he’s very refreshing. He’s got flair, he’s got flamboyance. But Test cricket is Test cricket. I think his technique will tighten up and he will be the future for Australia. McSweeney was very unfortunate. I thought he did the hard yards but he’s a middle order batsman. I see him travelling to Sri Lanka when the Australian team go there and rebuild his career from there. But I think it’s a good move getting Konstas in because you need someone who can take the attack to the Indian team, because the punches were coming from nowhere,” said Shastri.
With Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah leading the wicket-takers list in the series with 21 wickets, the spotlight once again will be on Bumrah during the Boxing Day Test at MCG. If India is able to win the series, the feat will also make India just the third touring country to win three consecutive series in Australia with West Indies and South Africa being the other two sides. “India is 1-1 in the series and that man (Bumrah) has almost single-handedly got India into that position. Australia hammers sides when they come here. For India to pull off three on the trot will be something special. But they’ll have to play good cricket. I see Australia coming hard in this Test match, especially with the bowlers. It’s the batting that’ll be the challenge for Australia more than anything else. India have come here to win, they haven’t come here to fill in the numbers. Even when I was the coach, our mantra was to play extremely hard, fair and to win,” said Shatri.
The former coach and now commentator also put his weight behind the opening day of the Boxing Day Test in determining the rest of the series. “You have to think of a method to beat Australia and not just compete. You’ve got to plan properly, how to take your 20 wickets. India have done that and been very aggressive. They’ve been in the face of Australia and give as good as they get. It’s been entertaining and feisty stuff. India have their nose ahead. I think the first day of the Boxing Day Test will determine which way the series will go,” said Shastri.
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