IND v AUS 2020: Brad Hogg disappointed that India didn't try to bounce Steve Smith out at any stage
Former Australia left-arm unorthodox spinner Brad Hogg was baffled by Team India's tactics of not trying to get Steve Smith out by short-pitched bowling.
Smith has been vulnerable to the short ball in the recent past and it was expected that the Indian pace attack of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Navdeep Saini would try to pepper him with it.
However, they bowled fuller lengths and Smith punished them for the second time in a row, hitting yet another quickfire hundred that helped the Aussies post a mammoth total of 389-4 in their 50 overs.
The Men in Blue ended up 51 runs short and Australia won the series with one game still to play. Hogg believes that India have missed a massive chance by not trying to unsettle Smith early on in the tour.
"The big issue for me for India was when Steve Smith came out, they didn't attempt to bounce him out at any stage. They bowled on a good length or a little fuller. I can't understand that, because Steve Smith's weakness is with the short-ball," Brad Hogg said in a video on his YouTube Channel.
" Steve Smith walks around, he was both legs planted and he is a little chest-on. So he can't duck and leave and has to play the pull shot. You could have set the entire tour up by having Steve Smith on the back foot," he further added.
India did not bowl enough short balls to Glenn Maxwell: Brad Hogg
Brad Hogg was also disappointed by the way the Indian pacers bowled to the dangerous Glenn Maxwell.
Maxwell smashed the bowlers all around the park in his blistering knock of 63 off just 29 balls, propelling Australia to a massive total.
The Indians kept on bowling fuller lengths which allowed Maxwell to play his innovative shots. Brad Hogg opined that Maxwell was yet another player who could have been unsettled by short-pitched bowling and the Indians missed a trick by not doing so.
"And again Glenn Maxwell, just bowling full yorkers to him so that he can play those reverse sweeps. He is a player that you should bowl the short ball to and they didn't do it enough," Brad Hogg said.
The third ODI between India and Australia will be played at Canberra on December 02.
While Australia will be looking to go for the kill and complete a series whitewash, the Men in Blue will be keen to end the ODI series on a winning note.