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Ravi Shastri and Michael Vaughan think the Indian openers would be happier to have not batted on Saturday.
Ravi Shastri (R) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (L) (Picture Credit: AFP, Sportzpics)
Former cricketers Ravi Shastri and Michael Vaughan believe Australia might have missed a trick by not declaring a few minutes before Stumps at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Saturday. They think both Indian openers, Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal, would be much happier to get an overnight break and began batting only on Sunday.
Australia’s final pair of Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland put up 45 runs together, taking the score from 173-9 to 228-9 in almost 18 overs. A softer red ball and a tired Indian attack didn’t test them much and Australia’s final innings lead soared to 333 runs. Shastri felt Pat Cummins didn’t declare and let Indians bat for the last 30 minutes — which is usually a tricky phase to negotiate — because his team is ‘wary’ of the visitors’ batting potential.
“They will be happy they are not batting tonight,” Shastri told Fox Sports. “It’s a different ball game when you have been in the field all day to play those last 20 minutes or three or four overs. It is a different atmosphere altogether when you come back tomorrow. You are fresher and you know if you bat out the day you can either get the score or save the game. It also tells you that Australia are a little wary of India. They have chased down scores in the past, and they’ve got the batters who if they get in, can make all the difference.”
Vaughan also said Australia could’ve used the ‘psychological’ advantage over the Indians by attacking Rohit, the most out-of-form visiting batter, and Jaiswal, who dropped three catches on Saturday and seemed under immense strain, too.
“You’ve just got to look at psychology; Rohit Sharma (would) be going in first under a huge amount of pressure,” Vaughan said on Fox. “Then, you have got Jaiswal who has had a shocker in the field. I think both of those players would be quite happy to just get out of the MCG tonight and come back tomorrow.”
Australia will get just less than 100 overs to bowl India out on the fifth day. No team has ever chased more than 332 runs in the fourth innings at the MCG in the history of Test cricket.
- Location :
Melbourne, Australia
