“Hasn’t impacted…”: Australia coach on Steve Smith’s form against India

Batting coach Michael Di Venuto said on Tuesday that Australia made a huge mistake by trying to increase the scoring rate in the second Test, which the visiting team lost to India by six wickets. Di Venuto said Australia’s batting plan was working well until a dramatic collapse saw them lose eight wickets for 28 runs. The dismissal of Steve Smith on a sweep shot saw Australia all out for 113 in 31.1 overs, leaving India just 115 runs to win the Test, which the home side won 2–0 in 26.4 overs and Border retained. Gavaskar Trophy.

“The plans were certainly not wrong. Our plans are good, but if people stray from their plans they will be in trouble, as we saw,” Di Venuto said here on Tuesday.

“We were almost ahead in the game, and it was like ‘Hey, if we get another 50 early’ you can’t do that in this country. We’ve talked about it, so it’s not like that.” Like this is something new.

“But pressure does strange things and we saw a lot of guys go out and try and make their way to score. It’s not all doom and gloom, but 90 minutes of batting certainly nothing special.” Was.”

Several Australian batsmen were killed attempting the sweep and Di Venuto admitted that the shot had a high percentage of risk for players who were not adept at playing it. Di Venuto said that most Australian batsmen made the mistake of using the shot as an attempt to evade strike, rather than relying on their defense to avoid it.

“It was very clear where we went wrong. With batting, it’s a similar analogy – you have to swim (play safe) between the flags in this country (India). If you go outside the flags in your game plan , you’ll be in trouble.”

He also cited the prowess with which opener Usman Khawaja averaged a series average of over 150 in Pakistan last year and nearly 50 in the subsequent Test campaign in Sri Lanka.

“Uz (Khwaja) played beautifully in the first innings (in Delhi), and carried it through Pakistan and the subcontinent. It (sweeping) is part of his game, but he also lifts the balls to do it,” Di Venuto said.

“It’s smart, he’s not using it as a defense and I think that’s what happened towards the back end (Australia’s second innings). The guys weren’t trusting their defense so they started trying to sweep. Did it, which is the wrong way. About it.”

Di Venuto said these things sometimes happen under pressure and when players hit the panic button.

“When you’re under pressure and you’re nervous, and you’re not trusting your defence, sometimes it’s ‘I just have to get out the other end’ and how do you do that? Sweep shot the other day Seemed like the way they were trying to do it, which is not the ideal way on a spinning wicket with variable bounce. That’s common sense, but that’s the pressure.

“If you’re coming here, and you’re not a sweeper, but you’re trying to sweep, it’s not going to work and I think we’ve had some good examples of that.”

Di Venuto also described the dismissal of Smith, who described the Australian collapse as “unusual”.

“I haven’t talked to him yet about it, and where he is at. But he’s excited about these conditions, he loves these conditions. It will be a disappointing thing for him not to have that influence at the moment Had to do what he would do. liked.

“He was obviously disappointed when he got out, and he told it in the dressing room that it was a bad shot.

The batting coach said, “I think most people would have heard this, so they should have an idea of ​​what not to do.”

Meanwhile, large sections of the Australian team have been given a few days off from cricket duty, with some traveling to the Taj Mahal in Agra and others taking to the golf course.

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