As if two back-to-back losses weren’t enough to call it a crisis for the touring Australian team, their coach Mickey Arthur on Monday took one of the most bizarre decisions that anyone could take. He dropped four players — Shane Watson, James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khawaja — for the third Test in Mohali, starting on Thursday, for not “complying” with the team orders.
‘Team orders’ might sound a genuine enough reason to expel a player for one match. But if the orders — every member of the team had to give a presentation on how their individual and the team’s performance could be improved — were as insignificant as were given to this team, then the punishment was way too harsh. Especially on the players who have shown unquestionable commitment to the team’s cause.
The very motive of the drill, as Arthur later stated in the press conference, was to ensure that all the players reflect on their last match’s performance and take steps to improve. However, the extreme punishment meted out to these players was only going to: hurt the morale of the players, create rift in the team, instill a sense of insecurity and, probably, take the form of a revolt. And Australia, going through a tough transitional phase, can’t afford any.
The Cricket Australia management, known for its professionalism, may be able to take steps to control the long-term impact of this unprecedented incident, it is the more immediate events which seem uncontrollable — going down 3-0 in the four-Test series.
Having surrendered in front of Indian spinners (35 of the 39 Australian wickets fell to spinners) in the previous two Tests, Mohali was a place of refuge for the Australians. A place where they could use their pacers in a far more better way. The last time they played at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in 2010, 25 wickets were taken by pacers, while spinners could take only 12. Though Australia lost the match by one wicket, the fact that all of their pacers, including Mitchell Johnson (5/64), were among the wickets, was enough to warm the cockles of their heart.
But, now that Watson (126 and 56 at Mohali in 2010), Pattinson (most successful bowler in the ongoing series) and Johnson would not be considered for the selection, their faint chances of winning back a Test and regain some confidence seem to have vapourised in the heat of Arthur’s anger.
Despite unfriendly conditions, Pattinson used his pace to take six wickets, including a five-for in the first innings, in Chennai. He, along with Johnson, hasn’t been considered so far in the series but was expected to be chosen and could have formed a good pair in Mohali. Add his batting capability to the criteria for selection and Johnson is the package that Australia needed badly at the moment.
After the retirement of Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey, Watson and Clarke are the two most-experienced batsmen in the team and to drop the former for such a petty issue would prove to be fatal for this struggling visiting side. Though Watson hasn’t even fired at 10 per cent of his potential in the four innings, yet he is one of the very few match winners in the current team. like all Australians, he too likes the ball to come on to the bat and who knows he could have been the catalyst in Mohali.
It’s not that Watson has been batting badly or out of form. Instead, he has been unlucky. looking at the mode of his dismissals in the four innings, Watson had found himself on the bad side of luck in almost every innings. On three occasions he was done in by an uneven bounce and once he nicked the most harmless ball in cricket wide on the leg side into the gloves of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Dropping Khawaja might not affect the Australian team’s fortunes that much, but by axing Watson, Pattinson and Johnson they have signed their death warrant.