'The unfortunate part is...': Vengsarkar's scathing criticism of Australia's 'poor' skillset as India tour gets worse

Dilip Vengsarkar, the former India captain and one of the greatest players against spinner, rued Australia's batting calling their skill level 'poor' and expressed how disheartening it was to see the Aussies find themselves all over the place.

As Australia seek answers and look for solutions after yet another embarrassing performance in the second Test against India, a barrage of criticism is heading their way. If the innings defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series opener in Nagpur wasn't shambolic enough, their underwhelming show in Delhi was just another example of how woefully out of their current campaign is. Despite gaining a lead in the first innings and getting off to a cracking start in the second, Australia looked like putting India on the backfoot racing to 63/1, but what transpired on Day 3 of the Test match was something no one saw coming. The batting simply capitulated with Australia losing nine wickets for 50 runs and getting bundled out for 113.

Dilip Vengsarkar went No-Holds-Barred in his assessment of Australia's performance (BCCI/Getty)

Questionable shot selection and the failure to adapt on Indian pitches is haunting the World No. 1 Test team severely, and with the change of retaining the BGT already up in smokes, the Aussies need to dig deep and hope for nothing less than a miracle to draw the series from here on. Dilip Vengsarkar, the former India captain and one of the greatest players against spinner, rued Australia's batting calling their skill level 'poor' and expressed how disheartening it was to see the Aussies find themselves all over the place.

"The unfortunate part is, batting against spinners is an art, and Australians are not used to playing good quality spin. Sweep could be an important part of your game plan but also the margin of error is very small. It is tough to have control over sweep, like the hook shot off pacers. Shockingly the foot work has been poor. The skill level is not there. I don't see a lot of them stepping out and driving," Vengsarkar told PTI.

If getting all out for 91 wasn't shocking enough, the fact that Australia got all out in a single session is deeply concerning, feels Vengsarkar. In the 2nd innings, Australia attempted 20 sweeps and reverse sweeps and ended up losing 6 for 29 with five batters either bowled or lbw. Of these, skipper Pat Cummins' pre-determined reckless shot off the first ball (out for a golden duck) drew most flak. Facing Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja – who picked a career-best of 7/42 is always challenging seeing Australia appear utterly clueless is what has taken Vengsarkar the most by surprise.

"They want to reverse sweep these days. Sometimes you have to grind for runs, that aspect of batting you don't see that much. DRS has also made it tougher for the batters. They are given out lbw even with a full stride on. Everyone wants to play with the ball all the time (and not use the pad)," he said.