Adelaide, 6 December (IANS). After the first day of the second Test match in Adelaide – a much-awaited Pink Ball Test – India and Australia legends Sunil Gavaskar and Matthew Hayden shared their insights exclusively on Star Sports. Reflecting on the opening day of the second Test between India vs Australia of the Border-Gavaskar series, he discussed a variety of topics including Australia’s bowling performance, Mitchell Starc’s talent and areas where India can improve on the second day.
Speaking exclusively on Star Sports, former Australian batsman Matthew Hayden talked about Starc’s brilliant performance. “He has that bursty seam delivery that goes past right-handed batsmen, but when he has that ability – which he had – I have to admit I was a bit surprised. I have never really seen the pink ball swinging so aggressively in the 40th over. By that time, he used a very important word, and it is also an underestimated word, and that is ‘speed’. All this was in favor of India.
Hayden said, “Coming back into life and sport is a difficult situation, with opportunities to struggle to get the momentum back, and Mitchell Starc did it in the only way he could.” Are – when the light is just as they are and they have that beautiful colored ball in their hand. He’s a magician with a pink ball.”
Matthew Hayden also gave his opinion on Australia’s bowling performance on the first day. He said: “I think Australia bowled in two halves, to be honest. I think in their first 20 overs, they were very conservative. It looked like they knew the pink ball was going to swing And when Scott Boland came in and started coming in the line of the stumps, we saw some missiles launched by Mitchell Starc and the ball started swinging. That’s why they are in a strong position today.”
Speaking exclusively on Star Sports, Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar shared his thoughts on what the Indian bowlers should do on the second day. He said, “They have to force the batsmen to play as much as possible. And that’s what happens when you force the batsmen to play as hard as they can. You can set him up by bowling a few balls outside and then bringing the ball back in, as happened with Nathan McSweeney in the Perth Test, or with Labuschagne in the Perth Test, as Bumrah did. “The Indian bowlers didn’t really use the pink ball as well as they should have.”
–IANS
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