Australian wicketkeeper Matthew Wade has been a big disappointment in the ongoing India series. Due to his dip in form, he was made to sit out in the 3rd One Day International at Indore. Peter Handscomb, who is a pure batsman, was chosen ahead of Wade despite Handscomb not having ample experience with the gloves. With the Australian team in such misery over their wicketkeeper, former Australian batsman Michael Clarke seems to have dropped a bomb. Clarke feels Wade may not get selected in the Ashes eleven. Wade had failed to post a double-figure score in his past five innings in One-Day cricket and past three in Tests.
“That’s a big decision from the Australian selectors. Because now I think it’s very hard for Matthew Wade to fight his way into that Test team as well,” he told the Indian broadcaster Star Sports.
“He’s going to have to go back and play first-class cricket. I can’t see them selecting him for the next two ODIs,” Clarke added.
Handscomb, on the other hand, dropped the catch of Rohit Sharma in the Indore ODI. Had the catch been taken cleanly, the match might have gone their way. It is a unique problem that Australia is facing because in the past they have been gifted with legendary wicketkeepers like Adam Gilchrist and Ian Healy.
#TeamIndia win the 3rd ODI to take an unassailable lead of 3-0 in the five-match ODI series #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/3yL8LxpO7L
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 24, 2017
With India having taken a 3-0 unassailable lead, Australia would be playing for pride in the remaining two ODIs. From India’s point of view, there are many plusses in Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.
The fourth ODI is going to be played at Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium, but rain threat still looms large.
