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The Indian and English legends felt that seasoned Aussie opener Khawaja should have opted to take strike against Bumrah instead of the young debutant Nathan McSweeney, who fell prey to the star Indian pacer.
Usman Khawaja. (X)
Team India produced a sublime show at Perth to seal a 295-run win over Australia in the opening Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy down under as stand-by skipper Jasprit Bumrah came up with a special spell to dismantle the Aussie batting order.
Bumrah wreaked havoc with his three-fer in the second innings as he started the onslaught in the very first over with the scalp of Aussie debutant Nathan McSweeny for a duck.
English great Michael Vaughan opined that seasoned Aussie opener Usman Khawaja should have opted to take strike against Bumrah instead of the youngster, who fell prey to the star Indian pacer.
“I’d have loved to have seen the senior pro Usman Khawaja say to the youngster, ‘I’m taking that first over’,” Vaughan said.
“Twenty-four minutes, it was to just get through the day’s play,” he added
“Just little details like that, I’d love to have seen the senior player just say to the youngster I’ll take the first over for us,” he added.
Former Australian David Warner jumped to Khawaja’s defence stating that the southpaw would have offered to take strike, but the youngster might have taken it upon himself to face the Indian seamer.
“I’m pretty sure Uzzy would have actually asked him again when he was walking out, ‘Do you want me to take it?’ and I think the young guy would have said, ‘Yeah I’ll take it, I want it’,” Warner opined.
However, Indian legend Ravi Sashtri felt that Khawaja should have taken the prerogative and gone up to fae Bumrah’s first over.
“I think the choice should not go to the young man – that’s the job of the team manager and the captain,” Shastri opined.
“Usman should have been told, ‘You are taking strike’,” the 62-year-old continued.
“If you go and ask that young kid, if he says, ‘I don’t want to take strike’, word would go around he’s soft,” the former Indian batter elucidated.
“Don’t give him that opportunity. Go and tell the senior pro, ‘Go and take guard’,” he added.
Australian pace stalwart Brett Lee expressed his concern over the message the move conveyed to the world
“McSweeney’s a fantastic player, he’s done very well in Shield cricket but never actually had that opportunity to bat in that top position,” Lee explained.
“Some will say if he bats three or four, is there a difference? Well, it is a difference. It is a different role,” he continued.
“He’s up against arguably the world’s greatest bowler in Jasprit Bumrah firstly on a green top on day one and then secondly he gets one to shoot through so he hasn’t had the rub of the green yet,” the 48-year-old said.
“The concern is, what message does that send to the other opening batsmen around Australia?” Lee was left wondering.
