Adelaide: Australia keeper-batter Alex Carey pointed to Travis Head’s counterpunch against India’s leading wicket-taker in the Perth Test.
As the two teams prepare to lock horns for the next match in Adelaide, Carey is optimistic of the home batters getting back among the runs, and getting the better of India’s pace spearhead.
One of the key contests which sealed the fate of the opening Border-Gavaskar series Test was Australian batting tackling Jasprit Bumrah.
A contest that proved to be a tall ask for the hosts, as Bumrah snapped eight wickets across the two innings while the host batting lineup faltered in Perth.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Carey said, “He (Bumrah) is obviously a fantastic bowler; has been for a number of years. Our batters are world class as well and always find ways to come up with solutions.”
The 33-year-old believes negotiating Bumrah early on before changing gears once the ball is old is the way to go and cited the instance of Travis Head’s outing in the second innings in Perth, an ICC report said.
“We've had a look at him now. Hopefully we can combat that first, second spell. Get him bowling a little bit deeper in the innings with an older ball,” Carey said.
“We saw Travis sort of counterpunch a bit . I trust our batters, we'll find a way not only (against) Bumrah…they played a couple of other debutants who bowled well as well,” he said.
Elaborating on the morale within the Aussie batters following a 295-run besting in the first of five Tests, Carey conceded that the group is raring to go against India in Adelaide.
"If you ask the batters, we all want to perform better and cricketers, you go out there to score a hundred and if you don't do that, I think you're at times disappointed. But we're a very united group. We all do get the opportunity to bat and we're all keen to continue to put those big runs on the board and I trust the guys to do that,” he said.
Australia will bank on their near perfect record in pink-ball Test cricket, having lost just once from their 12 outings.
“We are excited. We take a lot of confidence from our record in pink-ball cricket — it doesn't mean we will have the success but our methods, our style of play and the experience we have in this group we’ll bounce back from Perth,” Carey said.
At the Adelaide Oval, the hosts remain unbeaten from their seven Day-Night Test fixtures, including a resounding win against India back in 2020, which saw the visitors fold out for their lowest-ever total in Test cricket.
Carey however, shared that the home side isn’t looking for a similar outcome at their next meeting in Adelaide.
"There are obviously amazing days in cricketing history but we don’t expect to go out there and do that again. We have a process and a plan that we try to execute and whatever happens, happens.
I was not here for that Test match," he added.
