Australia’s great Allan Border has lashed out on Australia A for their dismal performance, which he also labelled one of the worst, on day two of the pink ball warm-up against India. The host could not break the partnership between Hanuma Vihari and Rishabh Pant, who was even more brutal against them. The duo scored centuries and stitched a 147-run partnership for the fifth wicket and gave 472 runs target to Australia A.
Allan Border slammed the shoddy attitude of young players, who are striving to gain a spot in the national cricket team, during the last session on Saturday in Sydney. He stated that all the departments of Australia A were not up to scratch while advised all the players to take advice from him for where they went wrong.
“One of the worst, lethargic performances I have seen in the last session of any cricket,” Border said on Fox Cricket ahead of play on day three.
“This is Australia A, they are representing Australia, they are young blokes trying to make their way. That fielding performance, bowling performance, captaincy performance – an absolute disgrace. Not up to scratch at all. I’m happy for any of those guys to come talk to me about what was going on yesterday afternoon and stand corrected but very ordinary stuff.”
Allan Border disappointed with captaincy:
Allan Border pointed out that Alex Carey, who leads the side in the second warm-up game, should have brought back the energy and fighting spirit when the bowlers were being beaten badly.
“If Alex Carey is in line to be an Australian captain, he has got a lot of work to do for me. He has gone down quite a few pegs. He is a good cricketer Alex Carey, he has got a bit of energy himself, but yesterday he should have reacted to the way the general feel around the team was,” Allan Border said.
After India lost their four wickets for 239, Rishabh Pant came into the field and played a gun-blazing innings in the last session of the day. He hammered 22 runs in the final over to get to the three-figure score before the Indians declared.
Pant was harsh on leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson in particular, who got taken for 148 runs in his 28 overs. On the other hand, Hanuma Vihari built his innings slowly but steadily and completed his century.
Meanwhile, the warm-up game ended in a draw with the host scoring 307 runs at lost of four wickets on day 3.