Cheteshwar Pujara the blueprint to avoiding Ashes burial in England
Australia’s batsmen have been warned they face certain doom this Ashes tour unless they magically discover the patience that was beyond them this summer.
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Australia’s batsmen have been warned they face certain doom this Ashes tour unless they magically discover the patience that was beyond them this summer.
Beating England on UK soil for the first time since 2001 shapes as mission impossible, unless the chastening trend of Indian star Cheteshwar Pujara managing in one series what Australia couldn’t in an entire year’s work isn’t dramatically turned on its head.
Selectors are expected to meet on Tuesday to pick a Test squad to face Sri Lanka which will be announced on Wednesday.
Shaun Marsh heads the list of Australian stars under the gun after failing to live up to expectations he would lead from the front against India, however, captain Tim Paine insists the much-maligned batsman shouldn’t be under any more heat than the rest of the top seven.
Young lights Marcus Harris and Marnus Labuschagne appear certain to be given a chance to cement places for England in two Tests against Sri Lanka, but the likes of Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb and both Marsh brothers are in limbo.
Triumphant Indian captain Virat Kohli declared that the lessons learnt from their tour of England last year set the tone for their history-making effort in Australia and laid bare what Tim Paine’s side must do if they too want to write themselves into the record books – and avoid being “buried” alive.
Kohli said the attainment of discipline, patience and mental strength was Australia’s only hope and not blind faith in a silver bullet at the selection table.
But that would require an extraordinary turnaround after Pujara in this summer alone faced 1258 balls, only a handful fewer than the 1391 Usman Khawaja – Australia’s best performed batsman – faced in an entire year.
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It took Pujara (521) only four matches to almost outscore Khawaja (592) as well in perhaps the most damning explanation for how dire the state of Australian batting really is.
Kohli has provided the blueprint, but the execution will be up to Australia’s battling stars and the wisdom of an under-fire selection panel.
“If you go out there with any ego you might as well not go at all,” warned Kohli.
“Because that Duke ball, it buries egos pretty quickly.
“You have to curb yourself down and just do the hard yards. Grind it out the whole day and you have to be patient as a batsman.
“There’s a lot of time in Test cricket. Because we’re so nervous as batsmen we don’t quite realise it.
“You just want to get away quickly but in England you’re not allowed to do that.
“You have to buy your time, and you have to earn the right to score runs eventually.
“But you have to get into a position where you should not even look at the scoreboard at the number of balls. It’s inconsequential, patience is the only thing that works there and putting runs on the board again is the most important thing to win Test matches.
“… It’s just mindset.”
India whipped up a celebratory dance in front of their hearty group of spectators who outlasted the washed-out final day at the SCG, but not even then would marathon man Pujara cut loose.
Australia must find dogged fighters in Pujara’s own image who aren’t worried about appearances only balls faced and time in the middle.
Selectors are reluctant to sack Shaun Marsh because he is an experienced player in a greenhorn group, and he is a man who can produce Test hundreds when he’s on.
But the stark reality is he has scored just 344 runs in 10 matches without a hundred at a dismal average of 18.
Paine said it was unfair to single Marsh out with Khawaja the solitary century maker in a year of Test cricket.
“I don’t think it was just those two (Marsh and Khawaja), I think everyone in our top seven didn’t play as well as we would have liked,” said Paine.
“I thought Marcus Harris and Travis Head, Travis was our leading run-scorer and Marcus showed in most innings that he could make it at this level.
“We’ve got some positive there. The rest of us didn’t score enough runs, so to put that on Uzzie and Shaun is probably a little bit harsh. Both of those players we know are absolute class, we know they can score a lot of runs. We have faith in them going forward.”
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