Australia batter Alex Carey believes reverse sweep shots are sometimes his downfall after having gotten off the mark with conventionally swept boundaries off his first two balls in the opening Test against India of Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Australia’s batting squad has been extolling the virtues of proactiveness both before and following their defeat against India by one inning and 132 runs. Carey acknowledges that he may have gone a little too far, though. In the opening innings on the first day, he displayed the most initiative of the game. With a reverse sweep, he got things going, and in just 32 balls and with seven boundaries, he raced to 36.
He attempted a reverse sweep off Ravichandran Ashwin on his 33rd delivery, but he tumbled off it and dragged it into his stumps. It was also his undoing in the second innings as he started off with two balls that were typically swept boundaries.
“Maybe the first innings execution [was the problem] and the second innings [I was] just trying to have a different method to the guys before me,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Carey as saying.
“It will be my downfall at times, I’ll have success with it at times. It’s finding the right balance, when is the right time to play like that. My wife’s been onto me quite a bit about it so you might not see it for a little while,” he added.
In his second innings, Alex Carey was attempting to play in a different manner from other players because he acknowledged that his first innings’ execution was an issue. Finding the ideal balance between doing what has to be done and playing when it needs to be played, according to Carey, is crucial.
“[I was] maybe a little bit too keen to play a different style, but I guess in my first Test over here that’s not a bad learning to have. Hopefully, I can find that balance along with all our players as well. We obviously want to be proactive, be calm and patient, and we had a pretty good look at that first-hand with a few of their players,” Carey said.
After reviewing his Sunday batting performance, he returned to training at the VCA Stadium on Monday to continue honing his batting. He acknowledged that he could have exaggerated the circumstances and then practised some standard strokeplay and his defence.
“Probably you can fall into over-playing conditions and certain names and what you see before you when go out to bat as well. For myself today I went back to batting more than anything else and reacting to what’s being bowled down at me and trusting that method as well,” the Australia batter said.
“At times it might be fast-forwarded mode but also [Ravindra] Jadeja and Axar [Patel] showed as well you can be pretty patient,” Carey added.
Australia lost the opening Test of the four-match series against India by an innings and 132 runs. The second Test of the series will be held in Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium from February 17-21. (ANI)
