Watson still under fire after missed century

Shane Watson cut the despondent figure Australia cricket fans have become accustomed to seeing, after missing a golden chance for his fifth Test century against India at the SCG.

Without a century since the second innings of last summer's Perth Test against England, Watson's dismissal stretched his barren run to 13 innings, prompting former Australian cricketer Tom Moody to say speculation about his future in the Test team would now continue.

With the Indian attack struggling on a flat deck on day two of the fourth Commonwealth Bank Test on Wednesday, a watchful Watson appeared certain to bring up triple figures before surprisingly holing out to Ravichandran Ashwin off the bowling of Mohammed Shami for 81.

Watson had played within himself for much of the morning after starting the day on 61.

The pull shot he hit straight down Ashwin's throat at deep mid-wicket off the second ball of the 107th over was one of the few extravagant shots he had played.

"I can't understand, for one minute, why Watson has played that shot," Moody said on Fairfax Radio's Summer of Cricket.

"He has worked so hard to get to the point he got to, it wasn't a fluent innings, but you'd have to say it's a good innings given the fact he is reconstructing himself as a Test cricketer.

"Anyone that scores an 80, you'd be happy to walk away with that, but he had an opportunity to really put the ghost away for a long time but now that ghost is still pretty much front and centre.

"There was one fielder out on that leg side in front of square, 15-20 metres inside the boundary and he couldn't have run up there and handed it to him any better.

"He did not have to move."

Former captain Mark Taylor credited Virat Kohli's captaincy and field placings, after earlier criticising them for having a man at deep mid-wicket.

"Watson could not have picked him out any better," said Taylor on the Nine Network's Wide World of Sports.

"I take it all back, Virat Kohli got it dead right: Ravi Ashwin did not have to move, he's hit it straight down his throat."

His 81 in Sydney today was Watson's highest score in a disappointing series at No.3, in which he has now scored 222 runs in seven innings averaging 31.71.

It means Watson has made just four centuries from 104 Test innings, while reaching a half-century 23 times.

Watson could have ended quietened the most vocal detractors and booked a seat on the plane to the West Indies later this year with a big hundred. 

But another chance lost on such a tame wicket will give more ammunition to those who claim the allrounder's time has passed, or that he should at least drop down to No.6 in the batting order.

In the lead-up to the SCG Test, Watson candidly acknowledged he was under pressure to score runs. He also conceded the pressure he put on himself to succeed.

That was all too evident as he trudged off the SCG, with heavy feet and low slung shoulders carrying the weight of yet another opportunity missed.

Watson acknowledged ahead of the Sydney Test that the absence of a Test century in more than a year had him once again feeling the pressure to retain his spot.

"So far in this series I've been very disappointed with my output," Watson said last Saturday.

"I've been working very hard on my game, to be able to put all the pieces together after breaking it down in the off-season. 

"I feel I'm under pressure when I'm not scoring runs at any stage.

"If I'm not performing of course I'm under pressure. 

"The thing I think about the most is to just being able to contribute to the team, not whether I'm playing or not.

"It's more so just being able to contribute to the team and feel like I'm not a passenger in the team.

"I do really want to be there to be able to contribute with bat and ball, that's what I think about the most."