NEW DELHI: Australia’s wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey expressed optimism about their batting unit’s preparation, particularly in dealing with India’s premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah before the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Adelaide.
Bumrah demonstrated exceptional prowess with the new ball on Perth‘s grass-covered pitch. Australia’s technically sound top-order batters found themselves challenged by Bumrah’s distinctive bowling action and persistent wicket-taking ability.
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Bumrah secured the Man of the Match award with impressive match figures of 9/72, averaging 9.00. As the teams transitioned to Adelaide, Carey recognised the significance of handling this ‘fantastic bowler’.
“He (Bumrah) is obviously a fantastic bowler; he has been for a number of years. Our batters are world-class as well and always find ways to come up with solutions,” Carey told reporters.
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The Australian game plan against Bumrah centres on weathering his initial two spells with the new ball.
“We’ve had a look at him now. Hopefully, we can combat that first and second spell and get him bowling a little bit deeper in the innings with an older ball,” Carey stated.
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Carey highlighted Travis Head‘s aggressive 89-run innings against Bumrah and the Indian pace attack with the older ball as an effective approach to neutralise India’s formidable seam bowling.
“We saw Travis sort of counterpunch a bit. I trust our batters. We’ll find a way not only (against) Bumrah… they played a couple of other debutants who bowled well too,” Carey observed.
The Australian squad maintains high spirits despite entering the day-night Test after a substantial 295-run loss.
“If you ask the batters, we all want to perform better. As cricketers, you go out there to score a hundred, and if you don’t, you’re sometimes disappointed. But we’re a very united group. We all get the opportunity to bat, and we’re all eager to put big runs on the board. I trust the guys to do that,” Carey mentioned.
With India holding a 1-0 series advantage, Australia seek to reverse their fortunes and recreate their 2020 pink-ball success against the visitors in the second Test, commencing Friday.
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