All eyes turn to Green
AUSSIES’ PRIZED ASSET FINALLY SET TO FIRE
IT’S fair to say everybody from the billionaire Indian Ambani family to the Australian cricket team have been sweating on Cameron Green’s broken index finger.
For the Ambanis, who own the Mumbai Indians and the IPL broadcast rights, the health of their $3.15m player is critical ahead of his debut.
The Australian team too could not be more invested in Green, whose all-round skills make him the most valuable part of the team puzzle.
Few can bring their batting skills to the top six and provide the class of bowling that allows the flexibility to play three spinners on the subcontinent.
Green was always said to be “touch and go” ahead of the first Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy, but his absence from the second was a disappointment. Mitchell Starc was also left out of the second Test after injuring his finger at Melbourne but gave every indication he wanted to play.
“It’s good enough,” Starc said ahead of the third Test. “If I only played when I was at 100 per cent I would have only played five or 10 Tests.”
Australia seems certain to bring in Starc for Pat Cummins, who has returned home. Green will essentially come in for David Warner, although it will be Matthew Renshaw who loses his spot.
The visitors finally have the closest thing to a first pick XI for the series. The third Test at the Holkar stadium in Indore is Australia’s best chance to salvage something from this series, given that Ahmedabad, the venue for the fourth, has a reputation of favouring spin.
The Indore wicket is no surprise, its got a cover of grass back of a length and is a desert on a length, but that is what visiting teams now get in India. Even their own batters struggle these days.
Ravi Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin have taken 31 of the 40 Australian wickets to fall in this series at an average of about 12.5. Smith concedes they are one of the more difficult pairs to face at home. “In these conditions, they’re amazing bowlers,” he said.
“They’re always at you, they’re challenging you and they’ve just been outstanding. The wickets we’ve had so far have obviously suited spin bowling, taking the bulk of the wickets.
“They’re always, always challenging. They’re very good but I think the disappointing aspect from us last Test match is we had them on the ropes and we probably rushed things a little bit in that second innings.”
Smith concedes the pressure leads to moments of madness – like his sweep to Jadeja that triggered the 8-25 landslide in the second innings at Delhi.
“I’ve played, what, 95 Test matches, I think, and I don’t think there’s been too many times I’ve walked off the field and I’ve gone, ‘what the hell am I doing?’ he said.
“I was pretty angry. There hasn’t been too many times in my career where I’ve actually come off and just been bedazzled by what I’ve done. It wasn’t my finest moment.”