The Australia national cricket team suffered a huge 295-run loss against India in the IND vs AUS 1st Test played at the Optus Stadium in Perth. The Australian batters were brutally exposed by the Indian bowlers wherein they weren’t able to chase down 534 runs. Indian pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana and Mohammed Siraj shared 13 wickets between each other and broke the backbone of the Australian batting lineup. While the Aussies are getting bashed by the media for such an underperforming performance, Australian cricketer Steve O’Keefe defended the Pat Cummins led side.
Speaking to SEN Sports, Steve O’Keefe stated that the criticism frustrates me and it is kind of unjustified. O’Keefe stated that it is a kind of tall poppy syndrome and latch onto the Australian team. He said, “It frustrates me. I think the pile on is unjustified. The pile on is just indicative of a lot of people wanting to come out, tall poppy syndrome in Australia, and latch onto this team. I think the pile on has been rough. We do expect a high standard of that team, so there’s some frustrations out there — but they’re not coming from my end.”
The poor performances of Australia included Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith. Both faced terrible issues in playing the Indian batters wherein Smith got dismissed for a golden duck in the first innings whereas Labuschagne struggled at the pitch and didn’t looked confident. The Australian team will now look forward to perform well in the second Test match set to be played in Adelaide from December 6.
