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Australia‘s dismal all-round show and uninspiring body language during the Perth Test, combined with fast bowler Josh Hazlewood’s comments, led to former India coach and all-rounder Ravi Shastri saying that “there are some mental cracks” in the Australian team that suffered an embarrassing 295-run defeat inside four day to go 0-1 behind in the five-Test Border Gavaskar Trophy.
Australia were bowled out for totals of 104 and 238 in their two innings, orchestrated by ‘Player of the Match’ and India’s stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah’s match-haul of 8 for 72. Australia’s bowling went flat in India’s second innings as Yashasvi Jaiswal (161) and Virat Kohli (100 not out) hit centuries, after KL Rahul (77) combined with Jaiswal to lay the foundation with an opening stand of 201 runs.
India, who declared their second innings at 487 for 6, set Australia a daunting target of 534 to win.
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But questions around a ‘divide’ in the Australia team rose after the third day’s play, when Josh Hazlewood directed a journalist to ask his question to the Australian batters as he was “relaxing” and already looking ahead to the next match in Adelaide.
On being asked about Australia’s approach heading into the fourth day with just seven wickets in hand, Hazlewood replied, “You probably have to ask one of the batters that question. I’m sort of relaxing and trying to get a bit of physio and a bit of treatment, and I’m probably looking mostly towards the next Test and what plans we can do against these (Indian) batters.”
Hazlewood’s attitude and words became a bit of a talking point, as former Australia captain and wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist hinted towards a potential divide in the team.
Talking about it on Fox Sports, Gilchrist said: “That tells me there is potentially a divided change room. I don’t know if there is. I might be reading too much into that.”
Adding to that, Shastri, who was India’s head coach during the two historic Test series triumphs in Australia, added: “What the Indian dressing room will be thinking when they hear something like that is ‘we know there are some cracks on the pitch, but there are some mental cracks as well in the opposition’.”
However, Cummins refuted all those talks in his post-match press conference at the Optus Stadium on Monday.
“There’s plenty of times where the batters have dragged us bowlers out of tight situations and we’ve done the same,” said the Australian captain.
“It’s probably one of the tightest teams I’ve ever played with. We really enjoy playing cricket together. We’ve been through a lot the last few years, the core group. So no problems there. Everyone gets along really well, so all good.”
The second Test, which will be a day-night affair, begins at the Adelaide Oval on December 6.
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