Australia v India 3rd Test: Reckless Matthew Wade dismissal sent Aussies into tailspin

Ricky Ponting didn’t miss Matthew Wade, calling out the middle order batsman for a lack of ‘game awareness’ after giving away his wicket.

Australian batsman Matthew Wade plays a shot as Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant (L) looks on during the day two of the third cricket Test match at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) between Australia and India on January 8, 2021. (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP) / —IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – NO COMMERCIAL USE —

There’s a fine line between fearlessness and recklessness and Matthew Wade needs to find it in a hurry.

Wade has reinvented himself over the past two years as a heavy duty tough man, sacrificing himself to solve Australia’s opening crisis in the first two Tests.

Those hard-nosed traits were on display again on Friday as the Tasmanian used short-leg fieldsman Hanuma Vihari as a human dart board.

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Matthew Wade threw his wicket away on Friday and put Australia in a difficult position.

The left-hander made a decision to relentlessly sweep India spinner Ravindra Jadeja at every opportunity and left his imprint on Vihari on at least three occasions in a brutal battle.

But Vihari did not move. Jadeja also held firm. And in the end it was Wade who blinked first.

Charging down the wicket and getting nowhere near the pitch of the ball as he squirted one skywards to mid-on, Wade threw his wicket away for 13, just three overs before the new ball was due.

The brain fade exposed 21-year-old rookie Cameron Green and wicketkeeper Tim Paine to Jasprit Bumrah in full flight, and suddenly out of nowhere, Steve Smith was left to do it all with the tail.

Test great Ricky Ponting was highly critical of a “lack of game awareness” from Wade.

“Matthew Wade needs to have a lot more game awareness, as far as I’m concerned. In a situation like that, Matthew Wade has been opening in the last couple of Test matches so the new ball is not going to faze him,” said Ponting on Channel 7.

“But what he’s done by getting out is expose Cameron Green to the new ball, a guy in his third Test, and for mine that is just not thinking enough about the situation of the game.”

Wade departs and the Aussies are in trouble.

Green was trapped lbw by Bumrah for a duck, Tim Paine had his stumps knocked over by the spearhead for 1 and Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon also fell without scoring.

Former Test selector Mark Waugh also accused Wade of “poor discipline” and said Australia needed much more from him – particularly after he fell in much the same fashion at the MCG last week.

His dismissal was perhaps the key factor in Australia losing 8-132 and butchering the platform that had been set by Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.

Wade has not made a half century in his past 11 consecutive Test innings, all of each have been on home soil.

The former wicketkeeper’s reinvention as a top order batsman has been one of Australian cricket’s most underrated comebacks – but Wade has to snap his run of making keeper-type scores.

Wade has proven he’s very capable of heavy-duty Test match hundreds – but Australia needs some more consistency.

Ravindra Jadeja celebrates taking the wicket off Matthew Wade.

Particularly now Travis Head – six years his junior – has just been dropped despite a hundred last Boxing Day and a superior batting average.

Former Test great Jason Gillespie described the decision to retain Wade over Head as “unfair”.

It’s difficult to argue with Australia’s faith in Wade on the basis he stood up in the last big series against England in the Ashes, and he has led the way in other ways with the body blows he wore from New Zealand’s Neil Wagner last summer, and his opening the batting in the past two Tests.

Without making a big mark on the scoreboard, Wade has been important this series playing out of position.

Wade has developed into a strong leader around the group, but at 33 years of age, now he is back in the middle-order, he doesn’t have much margin for error.

Originally published as Australia v India 3rd Test: Reckless Matthew Wade dismissal sent Aussies into tailspin