The former Australian captain Ian Chappell was dissatisfied with the visiting batsmen’s performance on Sunday, the third day of the second Test match against India in Delhi.
Chappell remarked that Head and Labuschagne had given India a hard time with their aggressive play in the last period of Day 2. He added that the Australians had failed to capitalize on the opportunities of Day 3 due to an over-reliance on the sweep shot.
The former cricketer-turned-commentator suggested that the Australians ought to have been more careful in their approach instead of rashly trying to take on the Indian spinners. Addressing the underwhelming performance from the Aussie batters, Chappel told a news channel that Australia’s batting this morning was completely unsatisfactory, especially after last night when the scores were almost equal. He thinks they bravely tried to challenge the Indian spinners and got them a bit flustered. He further said,
“They were struggling with the field placing and couldn’t contain the batters. You’ve got to be aggressive but thoughtful in India. I was hoping we’d see more of that. But what we saw were disgraceful attempts to sweep, missing the ball by a long way, and getting the stumps hit. It was a pitiful batting performance today.”
Australia had a strong advantage of 62 runs going into the third day of the match. However, they were unable to make the most of the situation as the Indian spin bowlers had a field day. Led by Pat Cummins, the Australian side lost nine wickets in a single session and were dismissed for a mere 113 runs, leaving India with a fairly easy target of 115 runs.
Ravindra Jadeja, India’s left-arm spinner, had a career-best performance in the Test match, recording 7-42. India could chase down the required total with six wickets remaining, resulting in a decisive victory.
