Published 16:10 IST, December 20th 2020
Shoaib Akhtar rubs salt on India's wounds from Adelaide, mocks lowest Test total record
Hinting at need for change in captaincy, Shoaib Akhtar said that Australia had crushed the 'mighty Indian batting lineup' in the Adelaide Test on Saturday
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Coming down heavily on Team India's performance against Australia in the first Test at Adelaide, former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar mocked the Men in Blue's unwanted record of registering the lowest total in a Test innings since 1955. The former Pakistani speedster sarcastically highlighted Pakistan's lowest Test total which was registered back in 2002 and asserted that India had surpassed that record as well. Hinting at a change in captaincy, the 'Rawalpindi Express' said that Australia had crushed the 'mighty Indian batting lineup'.
"I couldn't catch the early part of the match so I thought India had scored 369 but when I rubbed my eyes and checked properly, it was 36/9. Mighty India, the batting mighty Team India! What has happened? Australia showed what they are capable of. India will have to face criticism. This Test match will trigger a chain reaction and I am indicating at the captaincy. Virat Kohli will have to think. These things happen, innings fall but India is the number one team and to perform like this is embarrassing. This is not ludo," he said in a video shared on his YouTube channel.
While Akhtar praised the Australian pace battery led by Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood to rattle the Indian batting lineup, he also criticised the run out of Virat Kohli by Ajinkya Rahane and opined that had the Indian skipper survived, he would have scored somewhat 150 runs and India would have had the chance to make a comeback. "India has bettered our record. We (Pakistan) were cleaned up for 59 once and 53 then but India has surpassed us. Embarrassing, very embarrassing! It is very embarrassing to see the best batting lineup in the world come crushing down in front of Aussie bowling lineup," he added.
The former pacer was referring to Australia's massive victory against Pakistan at Sharjah back in 2002. The Aussies led by Steve Waugh then had rattled Pakistan for 59 and 53 in successive innings and registered a terrific victory by an innings and 198 runs.
'If Warne was bowling today...'
"When we were all down for 53, we had Warne, McGrath, Brett Lee against us. You should be thankful that this lineup is not there today. If Shane Warne was bowling today, he would have picked 700 wickets with his eyes closed. You are playing kid's cricket today. The cricket played by Sachin, Laxman and Dravid is a different game all together," Akhtar said.
Highlighting that India will have to re-group just in time for the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne, the Pakistani speedster said that if the visitors do not re-unite Australia would dominate the series completely. "They have to re-unite which will be tough. If they don't gear up, Australia will not even let them breathe. Come back strong," Akhtar said.
India's batting rattled
Team India created an unwanted record after their humiliating batting performance against Australia in the first Test at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday where neither of the batsmen even managed to reach double figures and were eventually restricted to 36/9. India have now registered their lowest score in the game's longest format. Their previous lowest score in Test cricket was against England at the 'Mecca of Cricket' Lord's back in June 1974. India were expected to see off the new ball and build their innings in the afternoon session of Day 3, but that was not to be as Australia's new-ball bowlers had other plans which they executed perfectly.
Pat Cummins' triggered the collapse starting witch Bumrah's wicket and Hazlewood chipped in as Australia dominated the Indian batting comprising of stalwarts Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli completely. Chasing a paltry target of 90, openers Matthew Wade and Joe Burns led the hosts to a comfortable win as the Tim Paine-led side won their eighth successive pink-ball Test match.
16:10 IST, December 20th 2020