‘Turn off radio, stop reading newspapers…’: Border’s brutal criticism of Australia’s implosion vs India in 2nd Test

Where did it all go wrong for Australia in the second Test? The most common answer has been Australia’s strategy to use the sweep shot against India’s spinners.

The result was – five of the nine wickets that fell on the third morning, during that catastrophic 90 minutes, was due to this tactic, which was later laughed at by India’s 2nd Test hero, Ravindra Jadeja.

Australia legend Allan Border later slammed the Pat Cummins-led side in his brutal assessment of their implosion at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on that forgettable Sunday morning.

After Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head had guided Australia to a 62-run lead at the close of Day 2, the tourists, for the first time in the series, looked to threaten and send India into panic mode. But in a span of 90 minutes on Sunday morning, the entire scenario changed as Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin spun their web, folding them for just 113. India wrapped up the chase well before Tea, winning by six wickets to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

When asked about Australia’s batting methodology and use of sweep shots during the Delhi Test, Border, in conversation with Fox Cricket said that the team needs to shut all the outside noise and shit down and assess their strategy.

“They have got to turn off their radios and stop reading newspapers for the next couple of days, that’s for sure because they’re going to call peeps but yeah they’ve got to sit down and talk about the methodology of playing quality spin bowling. Obviously, they have had meetings about this and how to go about it. You have got to have a method and don’t think cross-bat is the right method, not initially in your innings,” he said.

The legendary batter then explained that while Usman Khawaja was right in adding variety to his game with the sweep shots early in the innings, the tactic wasn’t a go-to later in the match with changing conditions.

“Usman Khawaja played really well in the first innings on the back of a lot of good reverse sweeps but as the pitch got lower that became more dangerous shots so they had to reassess and that’s what Test match batting is all about. You might scratch yourself around for a first 15-20 runs but then you get yourself in and then all of a sudden the innings start to flow because you get used to the conditions,” he explained.

Border, who admitted that he sympathises with the Aussie batters, added that he has no answer to what the right strategy would have been against this mighty Indian spin attack.

“I do feel bad for the batters because you are learning on the job and cope with this sort of bowling. It’s a tough one and I don’t know what the answer is,” he said.