'You're going to tell me they are not panic selections?': Chappell slams Australia after 2nd Test thrashing vs India
The former Australia captain did not sugarcoat his opinion about the visitors' selection tactics after they let the Border-Gavaskar Trophy slip for a fourth consecutive time.
Australia will not have the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in their hands for the fourth consecutive time, with India having retained it after racing to a six-wicket victory in the second Test. India lead the four-Test series 2-0, thus making a series loss impossible and retaining the trophy as they were the holders coming into it.
The brickbats have come out for Australia for almost every aspect of how they have turned out in India. Among them is their selection process and former captain Ian Chappell has said that it has “smacked of panic” citing them dropping the in-form Travis Head in the first Test and flying in spinner Matt Kuhnemann from home for the second Test instead of relying on the spinners that they brought to India.
“I don’t think there was any justification for some of the things they’ve done; their selections smacked of panic,” Chappell told Nine’s Wide World of Sports. “If you want to look at panic, the dropping of (Travis) Head, playing (Matt) Renshaw (in the first Test ahead of Head), saying he’s a good player of spin bowling – and you bat him in the middle order.
“You come into the second Test with one quick only, you fly (Matt) Kuhnemann over from Australia and you play him ahead of (Ashton) Agar who bowls the same sort of stuff and was in the original squad. Now, are you going to tell me they’re not panic selections? This is the problem... they overthink things.”
Chappell said that the Australians did not know what their best bowling lineup is. "I also don't think they know what their best batting lineup is in India, but … the best batsmen are in India now. You've got to pick your best bowlers. As the selector, you have to ask who do you think will take the 20 wickets the quickest? And I don't think they've got a clue who that is, certainly not in India. In Australia, they know damn well - three quickies, Green as a fourth seamer, and one spinner, they're fine here," he said.
