The home team bowlers did not put a foot wrong but the pitch “surprisingly” dried up quite quickly at the Optus stadium on the second day, eventually helping the Indian batters, reckons Australia head coach Andrew McDonald. India openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (90) and KL Rahul (62) frustrated the hosts with their dogged unbeaten 172-run stand that has put the game in firm control of the visitors, who now lead by 218 runs. While the wickets fell in heap on the opening day with as many as 17 batters getting out, only three Australian tail-enders were dismissed on the second day. “The surface looked considerably dry today. It dried out fairly quickly,” said McDonald during the post-day press conference.
“We thought there may have been a little bit more there. So, I suppose if you want to say that we were a little bit surprised, yeah, there wasn’t as much seam movement or swing.
“The bowlers were presenting the seam in a similar fashion to they were yesterday. So I think the conditions may have had some say in that.” McDonald said there was hardly any assistance for seam or swing, compared to the first day.
“If you look at the seam and swing, it was down comparative to yesterday. Yesterday was difficult work, I thought KL (Rahul) and Jaiswal played extremely well also.
“You need to ride your luck a little bit. Our guys got the balls in the right areas, and there was some plays and misses as well, so anything can happen if you get some edges on that. It could be a totally different day, but I think the conditions have changed, I’ll state that,” he said.
“In terms of the way that we bowled, I don’t think it was too dissimilar, potentially early on we may have been a fraction short, if it was to be critical, but I thought they went about their work well, it could have been a different day.” However, McDonald does not think Australia do not stand a chance in the series-opener, pinning hopes on the nature of Test cricket that keeps both the teams in hunt till the end.
“You’ve got the driver’s seat at the moment, but that’s not to say that tomorrow can’t change very quickly. Test cricket ebbs and flows, we’ve all been a part of a game when you’ve been well ahead of the game and it can twist and turn, so we’ve got to get to work on what it looks like for us tomorrow morning,” he said.
“It’s about 20 odd overs to the second new ball, we’ve got to work out a way to navigate through a few batters before that second new ball arrives and that could be our entry point back into the game.” He though admitted that they have to “get tactics right”.
“If we’re too aggressive then the scoreboard runs and then you put yourself right up against it. So it’s a real combination about controlling the tempo of the game and creating opportunities within that.” From the situation that India have batted themselves into, it is real a possibility that the hosts maybe looking at stiff chase of beyond 400 but McDonald would prefer not to look that far ahead.
“We’re not looking that far ahead, we’ve got 10 wickets to take first, so that’s our first focus. No, no targets, clearly 10 wickets to get, first priority, then we’ll move from there.” Talking about the frantic first day, the Australia coach admitted that it could be due to the nerves the players of both the teams felt due to the occasion.
“No doubt both the teams would have had some nerves there leading into a big series, so there might have been some error on the back of that, but I think as a batting unit when you get a look at a wicket and then obviously your bowlers go about their work and you get a second up opportunity, I think it looks a little bit different in terms of your mindset, your knowing what to expect and you can work from there.” McDonald also backed Marnus Labuschagne, who consumed 52 balls for his two runs in the first innings.
“He’s working his game as hard as ever. There’s no doubt he can learn some lessons from the first innings, like I think both teams’ batters.
“So he’ll be the same in the nets this morning, working through what his method’s going to be in the second innings. And clearly, your mindset changes based upon the conditions as well. So the game plan from the first innings is going to look different from the second innings.”
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