Shastri warns against preparing for 2030 after Perth loss; Clarke, Vaughan criticize AUS performance

Leading up to the Border-Gavaskar Test series opener in Perth, all signs pointed towards Australia as the clear favourites. India had just suffered a humiliating 0-3 whitewash against New Zealand at home, and were plagued with numerous issues. Key players like Rohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami, and Shubman Gill were missing from the lineup, and the experienced spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were left out of the playing XI. Adding to their woes, India had two debutants in the Perth game, and captain Virat Kohli was struggling to find form in the longest format of the game.

Yet, across the four days of the match at the Optus Stadium, where Australia never lost a Test match, India dominated in all departments. Kohli smashed his first Test ton in 16 months, while stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah, the Player of the Match, led the bowling attack with a stunning eight-wicket haul.

Vaughan, speaking to Fox Cricket, said that India's performance exposed an underlying issue in the Australian team, particularly on the batting unit, who were folded for 104 in the first innings and managed 238 in the second.

"I think the debate over the next week or two going into the second and third Test matches will be: Are Australia short of a gallop and they needed this game to get back into Test match cricket mode? Or are they a team that’s just starting to get over the edge?” I think obviously the batting unit is a batting unit that has had plenty of success in the past. There’s some great players in it – but consistently now for a number of games it’s just not managed to score the runs that many would have expected, including themselves,” Vaughan said.

While the loss in Perth left many Australian cricket experts yearning for the return of injured Cameron Green, Vaughan outlined that the current best XI of the team does not have enough suitable back-ups pushing them to go harder for big scores in every match.

“What is underneath this Australian batting line up really pushing the standards in the first team? The standards generally get driven in a team because you’ve got many players pushing for places in it – I just don’t see too many doing it. When Australia had a batting line up that had many world class players in it, I reckon you probably had seven or eight world class players not in it – and that was just in the batting department. Who is pushing? How many players outside of this Australian camp… outside of (Josh Inglis), who are the players getting the numbers to put these players in this team under pressure? I just don’t see it,” he lamented breathlessly.

Former India head coach Shastri agreed with Vaughan, labelling it as a "serious" concern in the Australian setup.

“I am seriously worried about the depth in Australian cricket. There were times when players had to play years and years of cricket to make the cut. Mike Hussey, Matthew Hayden – years and years, and you look down the ranks there in Shield cricket and some of the youngsters coming through the ranks, there aren’t many there. When you look at the batting line up, a couple of guys in the evening of their career, on the other side of 30 – deep into the 30s, you want to have some depth,” he told Fox Cricket.

'Boys, stop preparing for 2030...'

Former Australia batter Clarke was left fuming ’ Big Sports Breakfast as he lashed out at captain Pat Cummins for not utilising Mitchell Marsh enough in the second innings as a bowler.

“I know this isn’t making a big difference, but I can’t understand (that) if Mitchell Marsh takes a couple of wickets in the first innings, why doesn’t he bowl a lot more … why are we bowling Marnus and Head if he’s your all-rounder? They’re worried about him getting injured …” he ranted.

Clarke further lashed out at the Australian team for not showing enough intent or aggression against the Indian batters, saying that the players looked bit flat.

“Mitchell Marsh could walk out to bat in the second innings, you’re doing all this preparation to make sure he can bowl in the (third Test). Second innings, (he gets a) broken thumb, he’s out of the series. All that great planning around his bowling, what a waste. If you need to bowl the guy right now, mate, and if it means you’re bowling till you’re in the ground, you bowl; win this test. It was like we just expected to knock India over again for not many – there was no intent. They were right in our faces, but I didn’t see any of our bowlers give it to any (India) batsmen … it all looked a bit flat for the first Test of the summer,” he roared.

He concluded saying: “Boys, stop preparing for 2030 — because you mightn’t get there.”

Stay informed with the...