Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Allan Border and Matthew Hayden slam Australia after shambolic first session collapse in second Test
India defeated Australia in the second Test by six wickets.
Australian legend Allan Border and former Australia opener Matthew Hayden have lashed out at Australia after their dismal performance with the bat in the first session on Day 3 of the second Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
India defeated Australia by six wickets in the second Test to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match Test series and thus also retained the prestigious Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023. They have also inched closer to finalising their spot in the World Test Championship final.
It was panicky: Allan Border and Matthew Hayden fume at Australia's collapse
"It was panicky, frenetic sort of batting […] nobody got in there to stem the flow with some good defensive cricket," Allan Border said while speaking on Fox Cricket.
The 67-year-old didn't mince his words to describe how frustrated and hurt he felt at the way the Australians went about playing in the first session on Day 3. He stated that there was just no amount of character shown by either of the batters, and neither did any of the batters feel the need to try and read the pitch and then think out a quality shot to play, let alone score runs.
"I’m angry about the way they went about it today. They were all just getting out playing sweep shot, reverse sweep to just about every ball. You can’t get away with that on that sort of track. You’ve got to have a method. You’re not playing on a flat belter where you can expand your game. When playing on a difficult surface, you’ve got to work out where your scoring options are and bat some time at the crease," added Border.
Matthew Hayden on the same note resonated with the legend's thoughts. The 51-year-old exclaimed that he still needed time to digest what he had actually witnessed, because it was beyond his comprehension as to what mindset the Kangaroos went in with when they started Day 3, provided that they were in a dominant position at an overnight score of 61/1, with all nine wickets remaining, and they had all the time in the world to just pile up the runs and set a daunting target.
Hayden stated he never expected such a performance from the unit and was shocked to see their batting collapse.
"I can’t believe what I’ve just witnessed here. These are world-class players, and they’ve got everything to win and everything to lose in this session. They did it so well last evening in those few overs. Strong scoring rate, good defence, proactive batting. But what we’ve seen here is a disaster for Australia. They’ve gone way over the edge in terms of their aggressive play," as quoted by dailymail.co.uk.
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