Australia’s bowling coach David Saker said captain Tim Paine and his fast-bowlers disagreed on the tactics against India on the first day of Sydney Test.
Australia’s pace trio of Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins endured a difficult first day as India reached 303 for 4 at stumps.
India held sway on the second day as well. Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant’s contrasting-but-brilliant centuries helped them stockpile 622/7 in their first innings on day two.
Pujara (193), Pant (159) and Jadeja (81) tormented the Australian bowlers and chipped away at their hopes.
“I think the bowlers wanted one thing, Tim wanted one thing,” Saker told ABC Grandstand of the first day’s play.
“That’s not been the case as the general rule but when you were watching from the sideline you could see there was some confusion.”
Saker said both he and head coach Justin Langer had a heated discussion with the team after the end of day’s play.
“Last night we talked quite heavily about the day, more because we thought it was a really disappointing day and we just wanted to get our point across,” he said.
“Some of it was quite aggressive and that’s not like me usually. I was quite animated, and I know I was not the only one. JL (Langer) wasn’t happy. The bowlers know that.”
Saker said the Australians bowlers were inconsistent.
“We had spells that were quite good but that’s not going to cut it,” he said.
Off-spinner Nathan Lyon too “wasn’t happy” with the Aussie tactics.
“I wasn’t too happy with that to be honest,” Lyon said after day one.
“We missed out on using the moisture in the wicket. I thought we could have stuck there (full) longer, but the captain and the bowlers came up with a decent plan and unfortunately it didn’t work.”
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