Australia captain Michael Clarke slammed the selectors, saying that the tourists have managed to corner themselves by dropping Travis Head and selecting two off-spinners for the series-opening Nagpur Test against India.
In the first Test, the selectors surprised everyone by selecting Matt Renshaw over Travis Head. While Renshaw made a golden duck and two runs, debutant Todd Murphy was Australia’s best player, taking 7-124 on a spinning Nagpur pitch.
Clarke believes Travis Head should have started ahead of Matt Renshaw, and that head coach Andrew McDonald’s defense of Australia’s selections has made things more difficult heading into the second Test, in which Australia is attempting to make a comeback.
“Travis Head at No.5, if you start with him and it doesn’t work, then you can make a change,” he said.
“Now, they either shoot themselves in the foot if they drop Matthew Renshaw because they say ‘okay, we made a mistake’, and Andrew McDonald has come out and said ‘we haven’t made a mistake’.
“They’ve put themselves in such a tough position.”
