It is not a good time to be inside the Australian cricket team's dressing room. After managing to pull level in the four-Test series against India in the second match, the hosts went down crashing in the third to squander any chance of winning the series. And former cricketer Shane Warne is understandably unhappy - choosing to blame the bowlers instead of an inexperienced batting lineup.
While Warne did question the top six in the Australian batting lineup, he admitted that it comprised of inexperienced players. This, according to him, is not the case with the bowlers. "It's all right to blame the batsmen and yes they need to get a lot better and yes this attack has had to rebound better. (But) What have our bowlers done? Because the opposition keep on making big first innings scores," he told Fox Cricket 360. "I just don't think they're bowling well enough. If you look at the rhythm, why is that happening? You have to look back at the preparation. Are the bowlers preparing the right way? Are they bowling enough in competitive cricket?"
The Boxing Day Test - the third in the series - was played on a track that tested batsmen from both sides to the absolute limits. Although India had a first-innings score of 443-7 (decl), the team's second innings score of 106/8 (decl) and Australia's two scores of 151 and 261 showed just how batting here was extremely challenging. While Aussie captain Tim Paine targeted the MCG curator for having a track better suited to the Indians, Warne has asked for the Aussie cricketers to step up if they are to share the spoils.
