Justin Langer slams Virat Kohli celebrations and Sachin Tendulkar comments about Australia.
With India and Australia locked in battle in the first Test and the game pretty even after the third day, the heat between the sides has risen, especially after the low-scoring first innings totals from both sides.
Australia’s pacemen put in an impressive performance as they toppled India for 250, with Cheteshwar Pujara’s 123 the only performance to rave about. Australia would have hoped for a more substantial reply, but could only manage 235 as they struggled to cope with Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bummrah, who took three wickets each.
As expected, given the match situation, Kohli’s celebrations showed his delight with his bowler’s reply and displayed his sense of relief after he could only manage three in his first innings.
Langer, however, wasn’t impressed with Kohli’s celebrations.
‘If we did that at the moment we’d be the worst blokes in the world. It’s a fine line, isn’t it? That’s the truth of it. But I love seeing the passion.’
Australia are in a rebuilding phase after the ball-tampering debacle, and naturally they have struggled to find a winning approach.
India legend Sachin Tendulkar took to Twitter to express his analysis of Australia’s approach.
#TeamIndia should make the most of this situation and not lose their grip. The defensive mindset by the Australian batsmen at home is something I’ve not seen before in my experience. @ashwinravi99 has been very effective and has played a role to help the team be on top, for now.
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) December 7, 2018
Langer wasn’t impressed.
‘The teams that Sachin would have played against started with Allan Border and David Boon, and Steve Waugh and Mark Waugh, and Ricky Ponting, guys that had great Test match experience and they knew their game, were comfortable in their own skins and they knew what to expect. Whereas we’ve got a team at the moment who are very inexperienced in Test match cricket, particularly our batting side,’ added Langer.
