Cricket: Australians in disarray ahead of Mohali Test

Dubai: Australia’s ongoing tour of India plunged into deeper crisis with their team management dropping four players on disciplinary grounds for the third Test against India commencing on March 14 in Mohali.

The dropped players are vice-captain Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Usman Khawaja and James Pattinson.

An upset Watson walked out on the team and flew to Australia hours after the announcement of disciplinary action by team coach Mickey Arthur, leading to speculation that there was a revolt within the team. There is also talk that skipper Michael Clarke was upset with Watson’s attitude and contribution as his deputy.

“Any time you’re suspended for a Test match unless you do something unbelievably wrong, and obviously everyone knows what those rules are. I think it is very harsh,” Watson told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“At this point in time I’m at a stage where I’m sort of weighing up my future and what I want to do with my cricket in general, to be honest. I do love playing, there is no doubt about that, but at this point in time I’m going to spend the next few weeks with my family and just weigh up my options of just exactly which direction I want to go.”

Cricket Australia, however, played down Watson’s decision to fly to Sydney by stating that he was heading home to be with his pregnant wife Lee Furlong, who is expecting the couple’s first child. Incidentally, the baby was due only at the end of the Indian tour but Watson was granted leave to fly home if needed. It is yet to be confirmed whether Watson would return ahead of the fourth Test in Delhi, commencing on March 22.

Arthur made the unprecedented move after the four players failed to submit a presentation before the team meeting. Following Australia’s defeat to India in under three and-a-half days in the second Test at Hyderabad, the coach had asked every member of the team to present three points on how their individual performance and that of the team could be improved.

The players were informed of their task on Tuesday night and asked to submit their inputs either through email or through text message or slipping a note under his hotel room door before Saturday evening. The four players failed to comply with the deadline, following which Arthur, Clarke and team manager Gavin Dovey took a collective decision to sack the four players.

Following the decision, Arthur said in statement: “After Hyderabad (Test match) the whole team was really hurting, we were discussing ways of getting back into the series. We were particularly aware of where we were as a team and how we were going to get back.

“I asked the players at the end of the game to give me an individual presentation. I wanted three points from each of them technically, mentally and team as to how we were going to get back over the next couple of games, how we were going to get ourselves back into the series.

“Unfortunately four players didn’t comply with that. We pride ourselves on attitude. We have given the players a huge amount of latitude to get culture and attitude right. We believe that those behaviours with what we want to do with this team, how we want to take this team to be the best in the world, teams that are the best in the world have best attitudes and best behaviour patterns and a good, hard ruthless culture. I believe those four players unfortunately did not meet my requirements so those four are not available for selection for this Test match.”