Australia is indeed in troubled waters. The tour by the Australian cricket tour took a turn for the worse on Monday as the vice captain Shane Watson along with some other teammates was sacked in the middle of test series.
The miffed vice captain has headed home and this has raised speculations that a revolt is gaining ground in the team. This perhaps is the worst time for the former world Champion for whom defeat was an unthinkable word not long before.
Shane Watson along with three other teammates including James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khawaja have been sacked for the third test that begins on Thursday. This has been done owing to these players ignoring a team management order.
The reasons for their dropping has been cited as the inability of the players to make a presentation on their personal performance in the current tour and on what they could have done for betterment of the team in general.
This is quite understandable as Shane Watson is the vice captain of the team and his inability to work on his weaknesses will send a wrong signal to the team, which is currently undergoing a hard time. It is worthy to note here that Australia has already lost the first two test matches against India. Given the current mess that has built up in the team owing to this decision, things will only get tough for Australia from now on.
However, Australian media manager Matt Cenin tried to paint a different story. Worried at the tour morale going down owing to the sacking of the players, Matt Cenin came out with an explanation that as the wife of Australian vice captain was expecting, he decided to head home and take a break.
However, much damage had been done as Australian coach Mickey Arthur had earlier announced that these four players had been dropped with immediate effect and would not be considered for the third test against India.
This decision has left Australia in troubled waters as it is already trailing by 0-2 in the series. The team is now left with 13 players to pick from for the third test.
Mickey Arthur pointed out that after the loss in the Hyderabad test, the team was under pressure and he had asked the players to come up with a presentation on the ways they intended to improve their performance for the coming two tests. However, these four players did not take things in the true earnest and did not come up with a presentation as desired.
This kind of behavior is extremely uncalled for in a time when the team is going through tough times. It makes things difficult for others who are working overtime to improve their performances. Mickey Arthur is perhaps the first coach in the world to drop key players from the team for failing to make a presentation.
All eyes will now be on the Australian team, which has an extremely tough task at hand given the fact that the team has already lost the first two tests.