"Cameron Green's knock told me that he is WIP as a Test cricketer" - Aakash Chopra on all-rounder's slightly flawed strategy on Day 4 of the WTC final
Aakash Chopra feels Cameron Green is still a work-in-progress (WIP) in Test cricket after watching his overly conservative knock on Day 4 of the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
Green scored 25 runs off 95 deliveries as Australia declared their second innings at 270/8 at The Oval in London on Saturday, June 10. India ended the day at 164/3, needing a further 280 runs to chase down a mammoth 444-run fourth-innings target.
While reflecting on Australia's second innings in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra pointed out that Green played an uncharacteristic knock after Marnus Labuschagne was dismissed early in the day:
"Umesh Yadav gave a good start. It was a good ball that went away, Marnus Labuschagne got an edge and he got out. Now Alex Carey was there with Cameron Green. Interestingly enough, Cameron Green didn't bat at all the way he can or is known for."
The former Indian opener added:
"He had made up his mind that he will not score runs at all and will play extremely defensively. Risk mitigation - it was a slightly flawed strategy in my opinion because you were already ahead in the game. That's why Ravindra Jadeja ultimately dismissed him. Cameron Green's knock told me that he is WIP as a Test cricketer."
Green struck four fours but was mostly defensive during his almost two-hour vigil at the crease. He tried to let a Ravindra Jadeja delivery, which pitched outside leg-stump, hit his body, but ended up dragging it onto his stumps
"Alex Carey batted amazingly well" - Aakash Chopra
On the flip side, Aakash Chopra praised Alex Carey for playing an excellent knock and stitching a crucial partnership with Mitchell Starc:
"Alex Carey batted amazingly well. He didn't play a single reverse sweep this time. Mitchell Starc was there alongside him. Mitchell Starc hadn't scored runs for a long time but he has finally done that against us."
However, Chopra pointed out that the softened Dukes ball helped the duo's cause:
"Alex Carey scored 66 and Mitchell Starc scored 40-odd alongside him. In the end, Pat Cummins also got out. Mohammad Shami had wickets in his account. An important thing that was seen was that when the Dukes ball got old, the seam doesn't get merged with the leather, but it gets soft, and so batting became easy."
Carey and Starc (41) added 93 runs for the seventh wicket. While Ravindra Jadeja (3/58) was India's most successful bowler, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav accounted for two wickets apiece.