Australia are wary of Ravi Ashwin, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja’s slide spin deliveries with the new ball, coach Andrew McDonald has said ahead of the first Test match.
In Short
- Indian spin trio have dominated Tests at home
- Slide spin demolished England in their Test series in 2020/21
- McDonald said that the challenge was to prepare against those exact balls
PosterGuy: Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has said that the Australian Test team are wary of the threat posed by Ravi Ashwin, Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja with their slide spin. The Australian coach before leaving the country told The Sydney Morning Herald about the strategic challenges that the tour of India posed.
Australia are set to play the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the months of February and March, where they will be taking on the hosts in four Test matches. With India expected to make turning tracks, it will be a real challenge for the Pat Cummins side that has been in sensational form across the world against the teams that they have faced.
“I think the new ball is the one that creates more of that slide and when the batters do get done on the inside … we’re preparing for that,” Andrew McDonald said before leaving Australia.
“That slide spin, we’ll expect the spinners to bowl early against our opening batters as well with the new ball so all that is taken care of in the training environment and Diva [Michael Di Venuto] does a fantastic job in preparing. The key to success there is to have a clear method and that will be individually based and depending on the conditions we’re confronted with,” McDonald further adde
Indian spinners were sensational against England in their last tour of India back in the 2020/21 season. After winning the first Test match at Chennai, England were handed losses in straight three matches where spinners played a huge part.
“We’ll be trying to make sure the batters are clear on their method,” McDonald said about tackling Indian spinners.
“You’re never going to get exactly the same as you’re going to get in a game, and that’s one of the real complexities around preparing for a cricket tour,” the coach further added.
Australia are not playing any tour games ahead of the series, which has raised questions in the media. The coach said that they prefer their players to be fresh at the back end and that is why a call has been made by the management.
“We value freshness at the back end of the tour. Something we’ve seen teams go there before and expend a lot of energy at the front end. We feel with the profile of this group, quite an experienced group, quite an experienced batting unit as well, who have been there before, I think 11 out of the squad has been there before,” McDonald said.