Australian opener Ed Cowan played 238 balls to grind an innings of 86 runs in the third Test at Mohali, but he feels that he has done only a part of the job that he had taken up during the presentation that he gave to coach Mickey Arthur after the Hyderabad loss.
“What I told Mickey was that I want to be accountable to bat for a long period of time. I put a figure on that but that’s between me and Mickey. That’s what I want to be helped to. I want to be helped to a few other things as well but that’s between me, Mickey and the team. But my personal accountability is to bat a long time,” Cowan told reporters at a post-match press conference.
“(It was) not for as long as I would have liked but it’s like I did a part of the job for sure.
“I think my plans have almost come full circle. Coming over here I had it in my mind that I needed to put pressure on the spinners by attacking them ... my game plan has changed from putting pressure on them to putting pressure on them by not letting them get me out. I’m not saying that attacking the spinners wouldn’t have worked but I don’t think that’s my job. I’m at peace with the fact that I’ve got to grind them out over here.”
On his way to his best personal score against India, Cowan got a couple a chances as he was dropped by Virat Kohli on 64 and Cheteshwar Pujara on 84. But instead of thanking Indian fielders, he thanked his luck, which the 30-year-old southpaw believes is necessary in difficult Indian conditions.
“I would call it a bit of luck which is needed to get some runs in these conditions. In this series I didn’t have lot of luck, so I felt I had a little bit of luck today. I wouldn’t give credit to India’s poor fielding for the runs I scored,” he said.
Australian skipper Michael Clarke, who promoted himself to No 3 from his usual No 5, got out on first ball duck while stepping out to Ravindra Jadeja. His wicket helped the hosts strengthen their position in the match. Cowan said that’s the way Clarke handles spinners and it was a “rare” occasion for him to miss the ball.
“I think he has played left-arm spinners like that throughout the series. He has played them beautifully. The first ball to turn and bounce and passed the bat, it was unexpected. But that’s how he likes to bat. He likes to come down the wicket. He has done it the whole series. That’s his plan. It didn’t work out today. But we have to see how well he has been playing. It’s rare for him to make a mistake. So I think you should give credit to the bowler,” Cowan said defending his skipper’s approach.
Australia are now 273 for seven with Steven Smith and Mitchell Stark in the crease. In order to have any chance of bowling India out twice, they need to have a big score on the board. “We have got enough runs at the moment but if we can add another 70-80 runs in the morning that would be better. I think 350 on board is a lot of runs. But we have to learn to bowl equally well, that’s the key there because if you bowl poorly, it doesn’t matter what’s on board,” Cowan said.