In the fallout of two straight Test defeats against India, Australian head coach Andrew McDonald made no excuses, minced no words and said that they were simply not good enough despite satisfactory preparations.
"Our methods are going to be critiqued, and rightfully so," McDonald was quoted as saying by Australian Associated Press on Monday. Australia were 61/1 after the final session of Day 2 and it looked like, after the Nagpur Test, they were finally up to the Indian challenge. But came Day 3, all of it went out of the park, and they lost all the nine wickets for just 48 runs.
"At the end of day two, if you said our preparation was good (with Australia on 61/1), you'd probably have a different slant on it, but within an hour (on day 3) then people start to critique what happened in the past. And day three, as well as we could have been and we failed under the examination of India," added McDonald.
The coach further added that irrespective of the results, they wouldn't have changed the way they practiced. "I still wouldn't have changed what we did leading in, there's no doubt about that," McDonald added.
Also Read: Most runs in international cricket: A look at entire list featuring Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar
He also said that some players diverted from their time-tested game plan, which resulted in the second humiliating defeat. "There were some people who went clearly away from the game plan that made them successful over a period of time and that's for us to own as a collective. We've got to be better than that, that's the bottom line, we've got to own it and we are not here to shy away from the fact that wasn't good enough."
The caravan now moves to Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore where the two teams are scheduled to play the 3rd Test, starting March 1.
