Border Gavaskar Trophy: With Australia suffering its second highest defeat in terms of runs at home soil during the 295-run loss against India in the opening Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy at Perth, the Pat Cummins led Australian Test team would hope to make a turnaround during the pink ball Test at Adelaide starting December 6. Former Indian coach Ravi Shastri, who oversaw India’s 2-1 win over Australia during the 2020-2021 Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, believes there should not be knee jerk reactions to the defeat.
“Never jump the gun when you don’t have bullets to fire with. Or the right ammunition. I have seen a lot of overreactions to Australia’s defeat at Perth over the last two days. But I don’t think there should be any knee jerk reactions to what transpired at the Optus Stadium. Top teams like Australia don’t do that. I do not expect any wholesale changes for Adelaide,” Shastri wrote in his column for Codesports.
With the Australian batsmen only managing to score one half-century with Travis Head playing a knock of 89 runs during Australia’s second innings, the former Indian coach was of the view that a couple of Australian batsmen are past their prime. With Indian skipper Rohit Sharma set to make a return to the Indian team, Shastri sees the Indian team being never short of belief. “Australia would have realised not for the first or second or third time, that this Indian team is never short of belief, no matter how many star players they’re missing. And especially when they have an exponent with the new-ball like Jasprit Bumrah at the absolute prime of his career. That too while you have instability in the top-order, at least based on current form. You look at the age of the Australian batting line-up and it suggests to me there are a couple who could well be past their prime, even if they do still have the resources and experience to do the job,” wrote Shastri.
Shastri counted his big takeaways from the Test as Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s match awareness, Virat Kohli’s footwork, Travis Head’s confidence and Marnus Labuschangne’s head. With Labuschagne failing in both the innings including a tiring 52-ball two run knock in the first innings, Shastri believes the Australian batsman needs to change his mindset.
“My big takeaways from the opening Test were young Yashasvi Jaiswal’s match-awareness, Virat Kohli’s feet, Travis Head’s confidence and Marnus Labuschagne’s head. I think Marnus is still a key player. He comes across as someone who is carrying too much baggage in the present rather than focusing on what he’s done in the past to be successful. You can’t suddenly go completely off the boil as a world-class batter unless it’s got something to do with your mindset. Or if you’re overthinking your technique. My advice to him would be simple: Move your feet in the crease and don’t just scratch around it,” wrote Shastri.
