Sachin Tendulkar wants India to cash in on Australia’s defensive approach

In the morning of the first day’s play of the opening Test against Australia at Adelaide Oval, India found themselves in a rabbit hole as they lost Murali Vijay, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli in quick succession to the quicks. However, Cheteshwar Pujara buckled down and got the home team back into contention with a superlative century. Moreover, he also added some useful runs with the lower order.

The Saurashtra stalwart eventually succumbed to a horrendous run-out and the visiting team was shot out for 250. Thereafter, Australia came out with a rather defensive mindset. The ball-tampering scandal back in March has pushed them onto the backfoot to such an extent that they are still reeling from it. Fast bowler Ishant Sharma ripped Aaron Finch’s woodwork to draw first blood.

Australia way too defensive

From there on, the hosts went into their shell and have thus far scored runs at an economy of around two runs per over. Usman Khawaja’s approach was baffling, to say the least as he scored 28 runs from 125 deliveries with one boundary. His vigil came to an end when off-break bowler Ravi Ashwin found his outside-edge and Rishabh Pant took a sharp catch behind the wickets.

Even the likes of Peter Handscomb and Travis Head have strained to find their feet and runs haven’t flowed off their bat. In the meantime, former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar reckons India should maintain their dominance over their opponents, taking advantage of their rival’s bizarre mindset.

The Master Blaster took to Twitter and wrote, “#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,”

Here is Sachin’s tweet

#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

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