Stick or twist? Australia digests Perth mauling
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SYDNEY : After fixating obsessively over one spot in the batting order for the best part of the spring, Australia's media pundits and cricket fans have been handed a plethora of talking points by the abject defeat in the first test against India.
India's 295-run victory was sealed inside four days at Perth Stadium on Monday, shattering Australian confidence that Pat Cummins's team could halt the long run of series losses at the hands of the game's financial superpower.
If the humiliation of India being able to declare their second innings on 487-6 reflected poorly on the bowling unit, it was the Australian batting line-up dismissed for 104 in their first innings that bore the brunt of the blame.
Debutant Nathan McSweeney, who won the much-discussed race to open the batting, was not alone in being awarded derisory marks in the media player ratings with Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith also hovering around the 2/10 mark.
Marnus Labuschagne, once the world's top-ranked test batsman, received 1/10 in one publication after making five runs in two innings in Perth, the second brought to an end when he was trapped in front by Jasprit Bumrah without offering a shot.
"The top order is a major concern," former test skipper Greg Chappell wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.
"To avoid forced changes, they must deliver in Adelaide. Marnus Labuschagne knows he is under pressure ... he must rediscover his form quickly and revert to the free-flowing style of old."
