"Success of Khawaja actually was the main reason for Australia’s batting failure in the 2nd innings" - Sanjay Manjrekar  

Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Usman Khawaja's success with the sweep shot in the first innings inspired the Australian batters to take a similar approach during the second innings of the second Test against India.

As many as five Aussie batters, including Steve Smith, lost their wickets to the shot in the second innings. The visitors were bowled out for 113, and they eventually lost the contest by six wickets.

Khawaja was Australia's top scorer in the first innings. The left-handed opener scored 81 runs off 125 deliveries, using the sweep and reverse sweep to good effect before a stunning catch by KL Rahul ended his stay in the middle.

With the ball keeping particularly low after turning in the second innings, the visitors surprisingly remained adamant about using the sweep shot. Noting that each batter came out thinking they had to 'sweep to succeed', Manjrekar wrote in his column for the Hindustan Times:

"Khawaja played all the sweeps there are in the modern game and succeeded. He got 81 in the first innings after scores of 1 and 5 in Nagpur. That success of Khawaja actually was the main reason for Australia’s batting failure in the second innings. Each Australian batter after that came in with a mindset to attack and that too with the sweep shot; ‘sweep to succeed’ seemed to be their motto."

Ravindra Jadeja made the most of the approach by the Australian batters as he ran through the batting lineup. The left-arm spinner returned with his career-best figures of 7-42, as the visitors lost nine wickets in a single session.

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"It was painful to see Smith try the sweep and get out in the second innings" - Sanjay Manjrekar

As previously mentioned, one of the victims of the sweep shot was former skipper Steve Smith. He attempted an uncharacteristic sweep off Ravichandran Ashwin, but made no connection and was trapped lbw to trigger Australia's collapse.

Opining that Smith's solid technique against spin bowling does not require him to play the sweep shot, Sanjay Manjrekar stated:

"It was painful to see Smith try the sweep and get out in the second innings. This is a batter who got one of the greatest hundreds seen on Indian soil from a foreign batter in Pune in 2017, a Test that Australia won."

Manjrekar also belives that Marnus Labuschagne and Smith were dragged into the team philosophy instead of playing their own natural game.

"If Smith and Labuschagne had not bought into the overall team tactics, I have no doubt they would have made this win for India far more hard earned," he wrote. "I believe Peter Handscomb, Smith and Labuschagne are good enough batters to play their natural game and make valuable contributions to their side. All the three judge the length of spinners really well and are secure in defence."

Australia will face India in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Holkar Stadium in Indore from March 1 onwards.

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