The incident that particularly raised Border's ire was Steve Smith giving a thumbs up to an Indian bowler after he was beaten on the outside edge. (Twitter) After Australia were steamrolled by India by an innings and 132 runs on Saturday, Aussie legend Allan Border slammed the players for not playing “with a harder edge.” The incident that particularly raised Border’s ire was Steve Smith giving a thumbs up to an Indian bowler after he was beaten on the outside edge.
“Play with a harder edge. I mean, we’re giving blokes the thumbs up when they’re beating us outside the off stump,” Border said on Fox Cricket.
“What the hell is going on? That is just ridiculous. Don’t go stupid, but Australia play hard nose cricket. We’re even giving someone thumbs up … bloody hell,” he added.
The former Australia captain said that the Baggy Greens need to figure some strategy out for the rest of the series.
“There’s so many scars there now, it’s going to be a tough few days. You can talk the talk, but ultimately the boys with the bat in hand and ball in hand have got to do the job,” Border said.
“It’s going to be hard to find a way, but they’ve just got to do it. A big, soul-searching dressing room drink-a-thon tonight, just to try to thrash something out. That’s as bad as we can play, there’s only one way to go from here,” he added.
Smith, meanwhile, was the highest second innings scorer for Australia with 25 runs as they lost all 10 wickets inside one session.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (5/37) returned with a five wicket haul as India shot off Australia for 91 in 32.3 overs in their second innings just before tea. Australia conceded a massive first innings lead of 223.
This was Australia’s second lowest total against India after 93 in Mumbai (2004).
Bowling a probing length, Ashwin ran through the Australian top order and annexed his 31st fifer in just his 10th over, before Ravindra Jadeja (2/34), Mohammed Shami (2/13) and Axar Patel (1/6) completed the formalities.
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