BGT 2023 | Important to know the right time to play reverse sweep, admits Alex Carey
Alex Carey has confessed that he will have to be acreful with the usage of sweep shots
|(ICC)
Alex Carey has stated that it is crucial to know the right time to play unorthodox shots and his going overboard with the reverse sweep in the first Test might have caused his downfall. Carey further added that the Australian batters were aiming to be proactive yet patient in the upcoming game.
India secured the lead in the ongoing Test series against Australia with a comprehensive innings victory in Nagpur to inch closer to retaining the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The primary reason behind the defeat was the inability of Australian batters to cope with Indian spinners albeit a few of them tried to show some resistance, including Alex Carey's counterattacking approach to tackle the onslaught. The wicketkeeper-batter used a lot of sweeps and reverse sweeps throughout the game to negate the role of the pitch and in doing so raced to 36 runs from 32 balls in the first innings but was dismissed while attempting a reverse sweep against Ravichandran Ashwin.
Reflecting on his dismissal, Carey said that he needs to work on identifying opportunities to hit the unorthodox strokes.
"Maybe the first innings execution [was the problem] and the second innings [I was] just trying to have a different method to the guys before me," Carey said, ESPNcricinfo reported.
"It will be my downfall at times, I'll have success with it at times. It's finding the right balance, when is the right time to play like that. My wife's been onto me quite a bit about it so you might not see it for a little while.”
The wicketkeeper further admitted that he went too overboard with the bat but enforced the fact that his teammates would try to be proactive, calm, and confident in the next fixture.
"[I was] maybe a little bit too keen to play a different style, but I guess in my first Test over here that's not a bad learning to have. Hopefully, I can find that balance along with all our players as well. We obviously want to be proactive, be calm and patient, and we had a pretty good look at that first-hand with a few of their players,” he explained.
Carey failed to capitalise on the chances he got with the bat but was brilliant behind the wickets, the highlight being a superb catch down the leg side to dismiss Virat Kohli off the bowling of Todd Murphy. The visitors will now meet India in the second test in Delhi with the aim to level the series.
