Putting a good spin on India Test series

THE most dangerous Test cricket wickets don’t have claws or teeth.

They just sit there, pancakeflat and lifeless, and drain life and spirit from bowling attacks and, as a consequence, the very game itself.

They are dangerous in a sense that if Test cricket does go belly up it will be these sorts of decks that do the damage, not the spinning vipers that are so easily bagged yet create so much interest.

Unlike the dramatic third Test in Indore, there was no instant post-match explosion from match referee Chris Broad after the fourth Test in Ahmedabad was mercifully called off in the final session of the fifth day with Australia 2-175 and a lead of 84.

Shame about that. Had it been a timeless Test this one may have lasted eight or so days. What a yawn.

Say what you like about the ugly Indore wicket on which Australia triumphed in the third Test, but for two days and a session you simply could not take your eyes off the screen.

Australia’s 2-1 loss to India was an honourable result for the tourists. Few teams in history finish Indian tours stronger than they started it. Australia won the final two Tests 1-0 and they did so after India cooked up decks at extreme opposite ends of the scale.

Regrets? Australia has a few for they learnt a lot from this tour. The most obvious and regrettable was that you can’t simply lob in India a week or so before the first Test and expect to match a side that had lost two of its last 42 home Tests.

By the time Australia had their land legs they were 2-0 down.

It’s a shame because there was actually some smart planning that paid dividends.

The decision to send Matthew Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy to India last year for a spin bowler’s camp fast tracked the development of both youngsters and made sure they were Test match ready.

Australia must not forget that their fast men also need education in India, for cagey quick Mohammed Shami took almost twice as many wickets as the entire Australian attack.

Given their spinners were also filling their boots, that gave India a decisive edge.

Australia learnt from Usman Khawaja and Travis Head that it is possible to improve from a modest to a decent player of slow bowling, it learnt that Nathan Lyon is a match for any slow man in the world and that Cameron Green is blossoming into the “once in a generation’ player Ravi Ashwin has dubbed him.

India and Australia will meet again later this year in the World Test Championship final in England.

Bring it on …