Sydney: Australia head coach Justin Langer reflected on his team’s Test series defeat to India on home soil in 2019, calling it “a really tough time” of his life. India secured a historic Test series triumph in Australia ? their first ever victory Down Under in the longest format ? under the leadership of Virat Kohli, clinching the series 2-1 in January 2019.
“That was a massive wake-up call and a really tough time in my life,” Langer said. “I’ve got no doubt in 10 years’ time, I will look back on that period and it will be the making of my coaching career.”
Langer, who formed a formidable opening pair in Tests with Mathew Hayden, represented Australia in 105 Tests, scoring 7,696 runs at an impressive average of 45.27. He compared the tough home summer to the time he was dropped from the side, ahead of the 2001 Ashes, an ICC report on Sunday said. “In 2001 when I got dropped from the Australian team at 31 years of age, I thought that was the end. That was the making of me as a cricketer and a person. It was amazing what lessons you can learn in adversity,” he said. The Australia coach added that difficult situations like the current COVID-19 pandemic are opportunities to learn great lessons from. “In adversity, like in the great crisis we are going through right now, like the crisis of the Australian cricket team with sandpaper on the ball ? never waste it, because great lessons come from them and if you grasp them you will be a better person,” Langer added.
(agencies)
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