Former Indian all-rounder Ravi Shastri feels the lack of belief in their defense in Australia’s batting led to their downfall in the first two Test matches against India in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series. Australia returned with scores of 177 and 91 in the Nagpur Test match.
While the visitors scored 263 runs in the first innings of the Delhi Test they were skittled out for a paltry score of 113 runs in the second dig. Australia was in a dictating position at 61-1 after the second day’s play but they went on lose nine wickets for only 52 runs.
Australian batters employed the sweep shot on the morning session of the third day but it wasn’t a guile decision against Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, especially on a track that had variable bounce.
Speaking on the ICC Review, Ravi Shastri said, “I think application more than anything else. The lack of belief in their own defense. The lack of application and the lack of discipline was unreal and Australia paid for it big time. It’s very important to go back to the basics, go back to the drawing board.”
“If you don’t trust your defense, 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 defense?”
Shastri went on to add that a 4-0 sweep for India will give a psychological blow to Australia. The renowned commentator admitted that conditions for the WTC Final will be different but India will gain a lot of confidence if they white-wash the Aussies.
“A 4-0 win here psychologically does send a strong signal to the opposition. There will be an impact, but conditions are different as Australia will have their fast bowlers back as a lot of them are injured.”
“But that psychological dent will make India believe that, even in those conditions, they’re good enough to upstage Australia.”
The third Test match between India and Australia will be played at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore from March 1.
