Disappointed and Shell-shocked: Border, Hayden Slam Australia’s Disastrous Batting Display

New Delhi: Shell-shocked, Australian legends Allan Border and Matthew Hayden have lambasted Pat Cummins n company for their second innings collapse in the Delhi Test against India where premeditated sweep shots led to their downfall.

With a lead of 62 runs, Australia started the morning session of the third day with a slight lead.

However, the spin bowling spooked the visitors in the first session. They lost six batsmen including Steve Smith, Matthew Renshaw, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins and Matthew Kuhnmann to sweep and reverse-sweep shots.

In 90 minutes, Australia went from 65/1 to 113 all out.

Former captain Border felt that Australia were nervous and none of the batsmen tried to defend.

“I’m disappointed, I’m shocked, I’m angry at the way we went about our job today,” Border said on Fox Cricket.

“It was jittery, frantic batting. Nobody tried to go out there and stop the flow with some good defensive cricket. He was getting out almost every ball by playing sweep shot, reverse sweep.

“You can’t get away with it on a track like this. You have to have a way where you can play within your limits. You are not playing on a flat belt where you can expand your game.

“When playing on a hard surface, you have to find out where your scoring options are and bat at the crease for a while.” Former opener Hayden could not believe what he was seeing.

“I just can’t believe what I’ve seen… They’re world class players and they have everything to win and everything to lose this season,” Hayden said during commentary on Fox Cricket. “

“They played well in those few overs last night, strong scoring rate, good defence, active batting, but what we saw here is a disaster for Australia.

“It’s a disaster because they’ve gone over the edge in terms of their offensive play.” Hayden was particularly furious at Cummins, who went for big sweeps to get out on the first ball despite wickets falling like nine pins. Hayden felt that the captain should have read the game better.

“You have to think on your feet and read the game.

“You’ve got about 13 guys in that dugout who aren’t playing the game, all giving their take on it, and knowing the trend of this venue, what they must have said is that the first session is tough – it’s not the same as the last. It’s the second day’s session, where the conditions progress, the ball hardens, the wicket stays dry.

Former batsman Mike Hussey felt that the current team has blown its chances of surviving the series India Border Gavaskar won the match by six wickets to retain the trophy.

“They will be sorely disappointed. Coming in today, they were in front of this Test match – nine wickets in hand with a lead of 60 runs,” he said.

“Unfortunately they gave it away… a lot of them gave away their wickets to the Indians.

Yes, he bowled well, but I feel as if he gave him his wicket.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)