India must follow Aussie rule, win every match
short-pitched deliveries.
This is another reason why Australia should not be under-estimated; they have a top-class attack, headed by three excellent fast bowlers in Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Patrick Cummins. As a result of three suspensions Australia will field a depleted batting line-up, which means their bowlers will be even more determined to limit the opposition’s scoring.
Therefore the Indian top three should be aware that the Australian pacemen will be seeking early scalps in order to get Virat Kohli in while the ball is still shiny. This leads to a selection conundrum. Do India bat the dogged Cheteshwar Pujara at three and hope he’ll wear the quickies down or do they gamble on Rohit Sharma who is technically wellequipped to tackle the shortpitched stuff aggressively?
Kohli showed on the last tour of Australia he’s adept at dealing with short-pitched deliveries but it would be of great benefit to provide him with an ally in this confrontation. India’s other selection conundrum is what to do with their spinners. Considering Australia’s frailty against spin bowl- ing, there’s no doubt that in Adelaide and Sydney especially, India would love to play a pair of tweakers. They would probably also like one of them to be the wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav but his choice is made more difficult by the absence of seam bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
The solutions to these head scratchers may become clearer after the warm-up match but they shouldn’t come at the expense of trying to win the contest.
The other objective to be finalised is the right length for the faster bowlers to claim victims in Australia. In England, the Indian fast bowlers had great success bowling on a fuller length to take advantage of the swing and seam on offer. That will work in Australia while there’s some movement through the air or off the pitch but when that disappears, the trick is to find a length that will still create opportunities.
That’s a lot to be achieved in one warm-up game and hence the failure of most touring sides to upset their hosts. Nevertheless, the best way for India to enter the first Test full of confidence is to do so on the back of a convincing win in the warm-up.