Former captain Michael Clarke has criticised Australia’s “negative” approach in the Test series loss to an under-strength Indian team, saying the hosts, instead of pushing aggressively for wins, seemed scared of defeat.
Clarke, however, refused to blame team leader Tim Paine for the Test series defeat at home. An injury-ravaged India beat Australia by three wickets in the final game in Brisbane on Tuesday to win the series 2-1 and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“I thought we might have been a tad negative at certain stages throughout because we were scared to lose versus attack hard and look to win the game,” Clarke said on Big Sports Breakfast.
Under Paine, Australia have competed in 23 Tests and have managed to win only 11 of them. Two Test series defeats at home against India make his record look worse.
Paine, who took over from Steve Smith in 2018 after the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, is copping criticism for not only the 1-2 defeat but also for…