Former Australia cricket captains Allan Border and Michael Clarke on Monday denounced the team’s batting performance against India, calling the second innings collapse “panicky” and ill-executed.
Spin bowler Ravindra Jadeja had figures of 7-42 as he tore through Australia’s batting in the second Test in Delhi on Sunday to enable India to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series.
Australia repeatedly employed cross-bat sweep shots on a turning Dehli wicket and paid the price as they tumbled to 113 all out in their second innings after resuming on the third day at 61-1.
“I’m disappointed, I’m shellshocked and angry about the way we went about our work,” Border told Fox News.
“It was a panicky, frenetic sort of batting,” said Border, who scored more than 11,000 Test runs and was renowned for his tenacious batting.
Australia captain Pat Cummins said the post-match team review would look at why his players kept employing the sweep, accelerating their collapse.
Cummins was among Jadeja’s victims as four Australian wickets fell for no runs with the score on 95.
Set 115 to win, India cruised to a six-wicket win in less than 27 overs.
“They were all getting out playing sweep shots, reverse sweeps and playing just about every ball,” said Border, 67.
“No one got in there and tried to stem the flow with just some good defensive cricket,” he said.
“You just can’t get away with it on that sort of track.”
Clarke echoed Border’s criticism.
“They’re not the right conditions to sweep when you start your innings,” Clarke told Sky Sports radio.
“And they’re never going to be the right conditions to reverse sweep against the spin at the start of your innings.”
The 41-year-old, who scored nearly 9,000 Test runs for Australia, said the Australians should have been experienced enough to switch tactics.
“It doesn’t matter how many support staff there are around, you’re playing for Australia,” he said.
“Surely as a batsman playing at the highest level, you calculate that risk versus reward.”