NEWS
Follow UsSweeps and reverse sweeps have been major run-scoring shots for Alex Carey in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy. While he has scored 28 off his 56 runs in the series with such shots, it has also brought about his downfall in three out of the five innings he has played so far. Unpertubed by getting out, Carey promises to continue playing the high-risk shots that has also proved to be an effective one.
Barring his counter-attacking 36 in Nagpur, Carey has come away with scores of 10, 0, 7 and 3 in his next four innings and has acknowledged that he needs to be among the runs, especially given the fact that India bat till No. 9.
"I had some confidence out of the first game and then getting out defending [in Indore]. Am I happy with that? Not really," Carey said.
"So back my strength and try to score with the sweeps and manipulate a little bit more that way. Looking forward to another opportunity in Ahmedabad and get down and maybe get the broom out again."
Australia's lower order has not made any significant contribution in the series, barring Pat Cummins' 33 in Delhi. From No. 8onwards, India have scored 307 at 25.28, while Australia have managed just 84 at 4.94. They also suffered a collapse in the third Test in Indore, losing their last six wickets for just 11 runs, that was far from ideal, especially after having India on the back foot after bowling them out for just 109.
"I think it's one of those things where it's so hard to start for any player, so we're asking guys to play in different environments," Carey said.
"I think if we go out and try to slog and get a few runs that way [and] if it goes pear-shaped, we're happy to live with that. If they go out and try to survive for the [top-order] batter, we know that there's a ball with their name on it.
"We know that we haven't given enough with the tail. We also understand that India's batting line-up is very, very strong. So they bat all the way down to No. 10 really. We'll have those conversations about how we can navigate and try to get 10-15 runs each more."
However, there is no question over Carey's prowess as a wicketkeeper. He gave away just three extras in the Indore Test and his head coach Andrew McDonald too acknowledged how wonderful the southpaw has been behind the wickets.
On a track that had unpredictable turn and bounce right from the first over, Carey held his own and also manage to have Rohit Sharma stumped early on. "It's fun being out there, it's challenging for everyone, and it's great to be on the right end of this one," he said.
"Balls are going to explode off lengths and even Starcy bowled a half volley that exploded up, so you're out there reacting to what you see.
"In terms of our sundries, it was nice to reduce those and it can turn out to be an extra batter at times. You don't really think about it at the time, you probably think back and go 'that was pretty good', but a few nice little bruises as well just to get the body behind it."
Rohit escaped a couple of leg-before and caught-behind calls, but the India captain failed to make the best of it, much to the relief of Carey.
"Once the big screen showed the nick [in the first over], I thought he [Rohit] might have settled in for a nice 150 or something like that," the Aussie wicketkeeper said.
"It was challenging conditions throughout the match, but it was nice to get that one away and for us to get on a bit of a roll after that."
After going 2-0 down following defeats in Nagpur and Delhi, Australia bounced back to win the Indore Test by nine wickets to book their place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final. They now have a chance to level the series with a win in the final Test Ahmedabad and put a slight dent on India's chances of progressing to the summit clash in June this year.
