During the third Test between India and Australia, cricket legend Matthew Hayden labelled Handscomb’s performance as “un-Australian” after he combined with Cameron Green for a 40-run partnership for the fifth wicket during Australia’s first innings, ensuring the visitors remained unbeaten for the first hour of day two.
Handscomb was especially defensive at the crease, hitting only one boundary in 98 deliveries before being dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin for 19 runs. The star batter tackled the challenge of facing the world-class Indian spinners on a turning track well.
“He was very, very defensive with his mindset. His strike rate of under 20 means that you are not going anywhere, and the scoreboard is not going anywhere, and that’s a product of some really tough batting conditions … he was sort of like a sitting duck in many ways,” Hayden said during the commentary.
“It’s almost un-Australian. I don’t want anyone out there to think that I’m overly criticising Pete, I’m not. It’s just not quite attacking enough. It’s such a tricky balance,” he added.
I think he’s been outstanding: Steve Smith
Australia’s stand-in captain Steve Smith has now opened up about the claims made by the former Cricketing legend. Smith told reporters on Wednesday that he was “pretty disappointed” by the remarks and defended Handscomb.
“I think he’s been outstanding. The first two Test matches in the first innings of both and left pretty much stranded. If one of the other top seven were able to get in a partnership with him, things could certainly be different,” Smith said.
“He batted beautifully in the first two, he’s stuck to his method, he’s trusted his defence, and then scored off balls that were either overpitched or too short and played them off the back foot. His method has proved it’s worked in difficult conditions,” he added.
“So I was shocked to see some comments about the way he was playing because I think him and Uzzy ( Usman Khawaja) have probably been arguably our two best batters in this series,” he concluded.
