Harry Conway concussion in warmup irks Australians, Indian fans question their 'hypocrisy'

The three-day warm-up match between India and Australia A ended in a draw at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday, December 13. As many as 20 wickets fell on Day 1 itself, with both India and Australia A finishing out their first innings with the bat. Interestingly, late on the opening day, Indian speedsters Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini unleashed a barrage of bouncers on the Australian tail-enders, thus causing the entire Harry Conway concussion episode.

Audition game for India vs Australia pink ball Test ends in a draw

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Australian commentators, Indian fans collide over Harry Conway concussion

Australia A’s number 11 batsman Harry Conway faced 12 balls in the first innings, with most of them being speeding bouncers as dished out by the Indian quicks. The cricketer copped one to the helmet and was then checked by the doctors before getting replaced by Mark Steketee. Former Australian cricketers Brendan Julian and Kerry O’Keeffe, who were commentating at the time, called out the Indian speedsters for bowling bouncers to the Australia tail under lights.

Kerry O’Keeffe said “These are the toughest yards in cricket, pink ball, after 10 o’clock at night.” On the other hand, Julian criticised Team India’s tactics of bowling short to Harry Conway. The cricketer-turned-commentator said that he did not understand why the Indian bowlers kept bowling such deliveries to the tail-enders.

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Indian fans were quick to retaliate to Australian commentator’s opinions with a fitting response on Twitter. While some of them pointed a similar bowling strategy from Australia A's bowlers to Indian tail-ender Jasprit Bumrah earlier on the same day, others called out Australia for ‘hypocrisy’. Speaking of the latter, the fans reminded the Australian greats about their team’s similar bowling strategies from across the “90s and the 2000s” period.

Here is a look at some of the reactions from Indian fans after Australian commentators were left agitated over India’s barrage of bouncers to tail-enders.  

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Will Pucovski concussion and other injuries ahead of India vs Australia pink ball Test

Prodigious uncapped batsman Will Pucovski was tipped to open for Australia in the upcoming India vs Australia pink ball Test match. However, he sustained an injury in the build-up of the series. The entire Will Pucovski concussion occurred during the first of the two three-day warm-up affairs between Australia A and India.

Cameron Green also sustained an injury during the second warm-up match. Moreover, explosive Australian and seasoned Test batsman David Warner suffered a groin injury during the limited-overs series against India. He has been ruled out of the India vs Australia pink ball Test match, scheduled to launch from December 17 onwards.

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Image source: cricket.com.au