Former Australia pacer Stuart Clark slammed the Pat Cummins-led team for their lack of preparation ahead of the important four-Test and three-ODI tour of India which got underway with the hosts winning the first Test in Nagpur by an innings and 132 runs to go 1-0 up in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
Despite Australia’s special practice sessions on scuffed-up pitches in Alur, Bengaluru and before that in Sydney, both their batters and spinners appeared pale compared to their Indian counterparts.
There was a lot of verbal and mental stuff from Australian media and former cricketers about the Nagpur pitch which was expected to be a turner and the talks probably spooked their own team which could only manage 177 and 91 in two innings while India posted 400 runs.
Marnus Labuschagne top-scored in the first innings with 49 runs, while for India, Rohit Sharma slammed 120, Akshar Patel made 84, and Ravindra Jadeja, on his comeback after five months, made 70. With the ball, Jadeja took 7 wickets and Ravichandran Ashwin took 8, both taking fifers as well.
“No Practice Game, No Tour Match, Turn Up … And Got Dusted”- Stuart Clark On Australia’s Embarrassing Defeat In Nagpur Test
A lot was said about Australia’s prep as they declined a warmup match citing differences in pitches being provided and then their team selection was also questioned, as they dropped Travis Head for Peter Handscomb, but played Matt Renshaw. On the bowling side, they played two off-spinners in Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy, who on debut picked 7/124, leaving out Ashton Agar.
Former Australia fast bowler Stuart Clark said the Pat Cummins-led side’s preparation was not up to the mark as they decided against playing practice matches.
“I think the bit that gets me about it all is – and we talked about it before the series started – were they as well prepared as they could be? And the general consensus, if you talk to anyone on the street, is ‘no, they weren’t,” Stuart Clark said on Sky Sports Radio’s Big Sports Breakfast.
Now they have drafted in left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann ahead of the Delhi Test in place of leggie Mitchell Swepson, who has returned home for the birth of his first child. Clark, however, feels that unless Australia plays three spinners in Delhi Test, there is no way Kuhnemann is getting a game.
“I’ve watched a little bit of him (Kuhnemann) bowl in domestic cricket. He’s a pretty good bowler, and he would be hard work and he offers a bit of variety. But that means you’ve got to either play three spinners — I’m not sure they’re going to do that — or you’ve got to leave out Nathan Lyon. I’m pretty sure they’re not going to do that.
Todd Murphy obviously did really well, so you can’t leave him out. I think they’ve painted themselves into a corner where it’s very difficult to change the team,” he said. It’s such a corner that they’re almost stuck and unless they get some injury relief — ie. Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green come back — I don’t see how they can make any changes without looking like, A; there’s a massive over-reaction to what happened in the first game, or two; accepting they got it wrong, and I don’t think they want to do either of those,” Clark added.
The second Test will be played at the Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi from February 17 onwards.