Australia vs India 2020: Justin Langer Disappointed With Failure to Build Partnerships

Australia coach Justin Langer has rued the failure of his batsmen to stitch together big partnerships and the closer they came towards registering a century stand was during the opening day of the second Test in Melbourne.

Despite leading 1-0 in the series, Australia are still facing issues as far as their batting is concerned. They are failing to build partnerships with their highest being between Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head during the opening day of the second Test which was worth 86 runs.

Australia are yet to post a 100-run partnership in the series and that is a concern for Langer.

“A bit like the first Test, just our partnerships,” Langer replied on being asked what has been the biggest let down so far. “We’re not going to set up games as well as we could – if you look at our partnerships in the first Test match in the first innings and then yesterday, we have to get a lot better at that.”

“We had one 50-partnership in the first Test and we had an 86-run partnership yesterday, and you’ve also, when you have an 86-run partnership, you’ve got to turn that into 150, because you’re set and to set up the game. So we weren’t able to do that and to me, partnerships as much as anything,” he added.

Meanwhile, David Warner may have returned to batting in the nets but that still doesn’t mean he will be available for selection for the third Test that starts from January 7 next year. Warner has been recovering from a groin injury he picked during the second ODI against India last month.

He missed the opening two matches of the ongoing four-Test series against India and it’s likely he may miss the third game as well. Justin Langer on Sunday revealed that he’s still having some trouble with his injury.

“There’s no-one more professional and he’s doing everything possible,” Langer said on Seven. “We saw him bat the day before the game, he’s batting again this afternoon at the MCG, so in terms of his batting he’s flying, it’s just trying to … he’s still having some trouble with his groin and we know how dynamic he is.”

“His running between the wickets, his movements all the time, so he’s getting closer and we’re hopeful he will come good, he’s certainly hopeful he’ll come good, but time will tell. We’ve still got a few more days to the next Test match,” he added.