The Day 2 of the first Test between India and Australia in Adelaide saw the visitors putting on a solid bowling performance and bundling out the hosts for 191. The Virat Kohli-led side had posted 244 in the first innings and they took a 53-run lead before the start of 2nd innings, courtesy R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, and Umesh Yadav who all contributed to India’s cause with wickets.
Speaking after the day’s play, former Australia captain Allan Border said that the experiment to send Matthew Wade as opener by Australia did not work. Australia’s regular opening batsman David Warner was ruled out of the contest due to groin injury.
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Young Aussie batsman Will Pucovski had suffered a blow to the head in the practice Test and was declared unfit to play in Adelaide Test due to concussion-related issues.
Wade was sent to open the innings alongside the woefully out-of-form Joe Burns. The two struggled in the middle and could only manage eight runs each before Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah accounted for both.
Border said that even though he would have himself picked Wade to open because of lack options, the experiment backfired. “It was a gamble because you’re shuffling one guy (Wade) from his customary Test match position. Yes, he opens in short-form cricket, but that’s a vastly different beast to what they’re facing at the moment,” Border told Foxsports.au.
{{/usCountry}}Border said that even though he would have himself picked Wade to open because of lack options, the experiment backfired. “It was a gamble because you’re shuffling one guy (Wade) from his customary Test match position. Yes, he opens in short-form cricket, but that’s a vastly different beast to what they’re facing at the moment,” Border told Foxsports.au.
{{/usCountry}}“... Test match cricket on this sort of surface here, you need to have your wits about you and have a background about how to open the batting,” Border added.
“I tended to agree with the gamble in that I didn’t see an obvious replacement with Pucovski out, I was hoping he’d be fit to play.
“With Burnsy, I mean we were always just worried about that because he hasn’t shown any form whatsoever. His footwork, mentally he’s a bit short and he’s just having no luck. Anyway, the experiment didn’t work, we were always worried that would be the case,” Border further said.