The Australian head coach, Justin Langer on Saturday denied the criticism from legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar that Australia’s batsmen were playing defensive cricket, and complained that if his team celebrated like Indian skipper, Virat Kohli they would be seen as “the worst blokes in the world”.
Langer conceded their behavior was earlier scrutinized in Adelaide, where combative and vocal Kohli has enthusiastically celebrated Australian wickets. He said there was a fine line between celebration and going over the top and if his team acted like Kohli in the current environment, “we’d be the worst blokes in the world.” As quoted in Fox Sports, Langer said, “It’s a fine line, isn’t it? That’s the truth of it. But I love seeing the passion.”
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Australia was bundled out for 235 on the rain-affected Day 3, with only Travis Head offering some serious resistance, as he scored a half-century. After the day’s proceedings, Tendulkar tweeted that “the defensive mindset by the Australian batsmen at home is something I’ve not seen before in my experience”.
#TeamIndia should make the most of this situation and not lose their grip. The defensive mindset by the Australian batsmen at home is something I’ve not seen before in my experience. @ashwinravi99 has been very effective and has played a role to help the team be on top, for now.
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) December 7, 2018
Commenting on Tendulkar’s tweet, Langer said that it was a different era when players lie Sachin played against Australia, who then boosted a far more experienced line-up.
Langer explained, “The teams that Sachin would have played against started with Allan Border and David Boon, and Steve Waugh and Mark Waugh, and Ricky Ponting. Guys that had great Test match experience and they knew their game, were comfortable in their own skin and they knew what to expect. Whereas we’ve got a team at the moment who are very inexperienced in Test match cricket, particularly our batting side.”
The Australian coach also said that his team was “fighting their backsides off”. He feels that they need to be patient with this young team We have to be patient with them. A player can’t get the experience of 30 or 50 matches of Test match all of a sudden.
