Former India coach Ravi Shastri has explained the reason Australia’s horror displays with the bat in the ongoing four-match Test series against Team India. The visitors have lost the first two Tests and are now in danger losing their fourth series in a row against India.
They have also failed to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as India have taken an unassailable lead in the series. While Australia’s bowlers have done a fine job so far, the same cannot be said about their batsmen. India thrashed the world number one Test side by an innings and 132 runs in the first Test in Nagpur.
Australia were all out for just 177 in their first innings before India piled up 400. In the second innings, the hosts bowled out the visitors for just 91 inside a session to inflict an innings defeat on them. Their fortunes did not change in the second Test either.
Australia did well to score 263 in the first innings before bowling out India for 262. However, they just exploded in the second innings, losing 9 wickets inside a session to be all out for just 113. India went on to win the game by 6 wickets.
Ravi Shastri explains Australia’s poor batting:
While the Indian pitches and the spinners have been the talk of the town following Australia’s disastrous batting display, Ravi Shastri has a different opinion. The former India allrounder believes the reason behind the tourists’ poor outing with the bat so far is their lack of trust in defence.
Australia’s batsmen relied on sweeps and reverse sweeps to counter the threat of the Indian spinners and failed spectacularly. And Ravi Shastri believes that the pitches or Indian conditions are not the main reasons behind Australia’s poor display. He pointed out the lack of application from the Aussie batters as the reason behind their poor show.
“I think application (has let them down) more than anything else; the lack of belief in their own defence,” Ravi Shastri told the ICC Review Podcast. “The lack of application and the lack of discipline was unreal, and Australia paid for it big time.”
“If you don‘t trust your defence, you have no chance because that’s when you entertain thoughts of breaking free, much quicker than you normally should.
“Sometimes you‘ve got to spend some time at the crease, but how are you going to spend some time at the crease if you don’t trust your defence?
“But I didn‘t see one Australian batsman (do that). What surprised me was some of their most senior players also came out there and looked to do things out of the ordinary, something they’re not used to.
“So I think it‘s patience, it’s application, it’s discipline and trusting your defence,” he added.
Meanwhile, the third Test is scheduled to begin on March 1 in Indore. Australia would be desperate to win the contest and keep alive their hopes of not losing another Test series against India.
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