Melbourne [Australia], December 27 (ANI): Former Australian cricketer Simon Katich slammed Indian skipper Rohit Sharma for his poor captaincy on day two of the fourth Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), saying that India is being “bullied” by the Aussies.
If the first day of the Test match saw Australia make 300-plus runs, the Indian bowlers still showed a fight by taking six wickets, with four of them coming in the last session. The day two first session was extremely poor for the Indian team as Steve Smith and skipper Pat Cummins were all over Indian bowlers, even Jasprit Bumrah, as they scored at a run rate above five. While Smith reached a brilliant 34th Test ton, a useful 49 from Cummins took Australia to 454/7 at the end of session one.
Speaking on SEN Cricket while commentating, Katich said, “India has been dismantled here and it’s started at the top with Rohit. It’s not been proactive captaincy at all. It has been reactive and they look like they are in disarray. Australia are bullying them.”
Speaking about Smith, Katich said that he looked at his best and put on a “masterclass”.
“Yeah, he certainly did. He looked brilliant on day one, 139 not out. It was a master class. It was back to his best. Treated the Indian bowlers with contempt and it was a phenomenal knock,” he said.
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. Half-centuries from Konstas (60 in 65 balls, with six fours and two sixes), Usman Khawaja (57 in 121 balls, with six fours), Marnus Labuschagne (72 in 145 balls, with seven fours) and Steve Smith (68*) justified the decision with their fine knocks, pushing Australia to 311/6 at the day one end despite India taking some quick wickets.
On day two, Smith scored a century and had a 112-run stand with skipper Pat Cummins (49 in 63 balls, with seven fours) which helped Australia end the first session at 454/7. In the second session, Smith was dismissed for 140 in 197 balls, with 13 fours and three sixes and Australia was bowled out for 474 runs.
Now, Smith has 11 centuries in 43 innings against India, outdoing England’s Joe Root, who has 10 tons against India in 55 innings. In 23 Tests against India, he has made 2,305 runs at an average of 2,305 runs at an average of 64.02, with 11 centuries and five fifties. His best score is 192.
Smith is also the first-ever player to have 10 centuries in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, outdoing Virat Kohli (9) and Sachin Tendulkar (9).
At MCG and Boxing Day Tests so far, Smith has made 1,232 runs in 12 Tests and 19 innings at an average of 88.00, with five centuries and five fifties and their best score is 192.
Now, Smith has risen to joint-sixth highest among century makers in Tests alongside Younis Khan (Pakistan), Sunil Gavaskar (India), Brian Lara (West Indies) and Mahela Jayawardena (Sri Lanka).
Jasprit Bumrah (4/99) was the top wicket-taker for India. Ravindra Jadeja (3/78) and Akash Deep (2/94) were also among the wickets. Washington Sundar got a wicket too. (ANI)
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