IND vs AUS: "They Either Shoot Themselves In The Foot If They Drop Matthew Renshaw" - Michael Clarke On Australian Team Management

Australia will take on India in the second Test of the four-match Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023 series at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on February 17, Friday. Former Australia captain Michael Clarke believes that the visitors put themselves in a tough situation with their selections in the first Test match.

There were questions raised over the selection of Matt Renshaw over Travis Head, who had a good summer at home. Head, the No. 4 Test batsman in the ICC rankings, was dropped from the playing XI for the first Test match in Nagpur despite scoring 525 runs at an average of 87.50 against the West Indies and South Africa at home.

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They’ve Put Themselves In Such A Tough Position – Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke believes that Travis Head should have started ahead of Matt Renshaw in the first Test and that the team management’s selection made things more difficult as they focused on a comeback against India in the second Test.

“Travis Head at No.5, if you start with him and it doesn’t work, then you can make a change,” he said on Sky Sports Radio’s Big Sports Breakfast.

“Now, they either shoot themselves in the foot if they drop Matthew Renshaw because they say ‘okay, we made a mistake’, and Andrew McDonald has come out and said ‘we haven’t made a mistake’. They’ve put themselves in such a tough position,” he added.

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Team India dominated the series opener and finished the match against the visitors in three days. The Australian batters struggled against the spin bowling, as Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin picked up 15 wickets out of 20. They were bowled out for 91 runs in the second innings, which is their second-lowest score against India in red-ball cricket.

Ravindra Jadeja, who made his comeback in international cricket after six months, was named player of the match for his all-round performance. The star all-rounder picked up his 11th five-wicket haul in Test cricket in Australia’s first innings. The left-handed batter came to the crease when India was in trouble at 168/5 and batted well for his crucial 70 runs in India’s only innings.

Also read: IND VS AUS: “I DON’T KNOW IF TWO OFFIES IS THE RIGHT BALANCE FOR US AS WELL” – MICHAEL CLARKE SAYS AHEAD OF THE SECOND TEST MATCH

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