Usman Khawaja scored 81 from 125 balls to make amends for a horrendous first-Test outing at Nagpur with an attractive knock on day one of the second Test at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Friday.
Former Australian captain Ian Chappell praised Khawaja for being proactive, saying that the opener scared India a bit on day one.
Chappell told Cricinfo that the 36-year-old left-handed opener used the reverse sweep to good effect.
“You can’t really bring Nagpur into Khawaja as he was out cheaply and early in both innings. But I thought he was quite proactive and he used the reverse sweep to effect. I think he frightened the Indians a little bit,” Chappell told Cricinfo.
Chappell felt that Rohit Sharma and India was not ready for Khawaja’s approach and were reactive with their fields accordingly.
“It is hard to tell as a captain who captained well before the bats became bigger. But I still think that you have got to keep fielders in place to take catches, rather than reacting to some of the shots. I thought there were times when India reacted to the shots, the sweep shots and placed fields for those rather than keeping guys in catching positions. I don’t think the odd person who can reverse sweep well but not many. And I think if you keep fielders in catching positions, sooner or later, someone who would reverse sweep, if you get the ball to bounce a little bit, it catches a top edge and that’s where the ball goes. But to his credit, Khawaja pushed the field back and was able to take advantage,” said Chappell.
Khawaja, at the presentation after the day’s play, said he faced a total of seven balls across two innings in Nagpur and hence didn’t do anything different in Delhi.
“I didn’t get a chance to play the first game. I only faced seven balls for the game. So there was no real difference in the plans. I just play by feel. I play by what I think is right for the wicket when I go out. I don’t go out there thinking I want to play certain way,” he said.
“I just feel how the bowlers are trying to bowl to me and then I read the game from there. So it’s as simple as that. There’s no difference. And that’s pretty much what I did today,” Khawaja added.
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