Greg Chappell has urged the Australian cricket team to show some of their trademark tenacity and determination in the remaining two Border-Gavaskar Trophy test matches against India. The Australian legend stated that fans are extremely disappointed with the lack of fight his team has shown so far, losing the first two events in three days.
In the build up to the series, there was much talk that Australia, led by Pat Cummins, had a great chance to defeat India in India. However, things have been pretty sorry for the visitors. They lost the first Test at Nagpur by one innings and 132 runs. They did better in Delhi but still fell by six wickets.
Australia will now face India in the third Test in Indore, starting on March 1. The Australians will be without their skipper Cummins, who has returned home to be with his ailing mother. Writing in his column for The Sydney Morning Herald, Chappell had a message for visitors. He stated:
“What can Australia do from here? First, picking your best team, and then playing with the passion, tenacity and grit that is our hallmark. Australian fans know it’s tough in India.
They can accept being beaten by a better team, but they won’t accept seeing an Australian team play recklessly and get knocked out in a session or two and on their toes in three days. There is red-hot anger, bewilderment and shame in our fans.”
The 74-year-old added that the Australian public has every right to be disappointed that his team have lost the ball in one of international cricket’s biggest challenges. He opined:
“The Australian public is rightly outraged that our team has shown so little fight in the series so far. The sights of the batter being dismissed playing the first pitch of the reverse sweep, and playing as if this series weren’t critical for the future, grates. Australian cricket needs to realize that playing India is not a sideshow, but a great show on a par with or bigger than The Ashes.”
In addition to Cummins, Australia will also miss David Warner and Josh Hazlewood, who have been ruled out of the remainder of the Test series due to injury.
“Starc and Green must be undercooked but they must play” – Greg Chappell on Australia’s XI for the third test
In welcome news for Australia amid all the pessimism, pacemaker Mitchell Starc and the all-rounder Cameron Green, who missed the first two Tests due to injury, will be available for the Indore Test. Chappell believes that both should play, even if they are rusty. He wrote:
“Starc and Green must be undercooked but they must play. Starc is a game winner on his day, so he must be used in short, destructive bursts when a new hitter arrives at the crease. Green and Boland will have to take over if the pace eludes them.
On the batting front, Chappell described the decision to drop Travis Head for the first Test as a mistake. Analyzing the lineup, he commented:
“(Marnus) Labuschagne, (Steve) Smith and (Peter) Handscomb are our best spin players, so they need to play. Head should have played the first Test as the fit player, so leaving him out, even without looking back, was a huge mistake. As a naturally aggressive starter, Head is a good complement to the more determined Khawaja.”
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Usman Khawaja was Australia’s leading scorer with 81 in the first innings in Delhi, while Handscomb chipped in with 72*.