24 hours before the IND vs AUS mega clash in Chennai, Australia captain Pat Cummins is having sleepless nights. He concedes that Indian spin attack will be the biggest challenge. With Chennai pitch expected to offer turn and grip, India Cricket Team will bring in Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin against the Aussies. And that is a nightmare situation for the Aussie batters as they will have to plan for three different types of spin attack in India vs Australia World Cup clash.
“They’re a good bowling line-up, especially in home conditions. So, they’re going to be challenging. The good thing is that we’ve played them a lot. So, our batters will have their own plans. We’ve had success against them a few times. They’ve bowled well against us a few times as well,” Pat Cummins said at the pre-match press conference on Saturday.
Spin threat in IND vs AUS
It’s not that Australians lack experience of playing India or Indian spin attack. But Australia do not have fond memories of playing Indian spin. In the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australia batting folded like pack of cards. Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin were too much to deal with.
The same duo will be returning home. Ashwin has grown up playing at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. For Ravindra Jadeja, it is his second home having played for Chennai Super Kings for so long.
However, Pat Cummins is not giving up yet on the tough battle. He is banking on the IPL experience of some Australian players to come up trumps against the tweakers.
“It’s a ground we’ve played quite often. It feels like whenever we tour India, there seems to be a game here. A few of the guys have played for CSK as well, or you know, a fair bit here for IPL. So, it may serve us well,” Pat Cummins said.
Australia did call up Mahesh Pithiya an Indian bowler who has a similar action as Ashwin. But he refused due to Indian domestic season. And now, Australia have to deal with Ashwin himself.
Aussie spin attack up to the mark?
After struggles against Ashwin, David Warner batted right-handed in the second ODI at Rajkot. While Cummins did not rule out the possibility of the veteran opener adopting some novel strategy to counter the spin, he will surely be worried about how his spinners have performed. With Ashton Agar out and Adam Zampa not delivering up to his standards, Glenn Maxwell is the sole frontline spin option.
The five-time champions have thin spin options in their ranks in leg-spinner Adam Zampa and part-time offie Glenn Maxwell. The all-rounder Maxwell took four wickets conceding 40 runs when Australia defended 352 against India in the recent third ODI at Rajkot. Cummins hoped that Maxwell would have a big tournament with the ball and bat.
“We’ve seen Max, he’s a front-line spin bowler. In the 2015 World Cup, he was the sole spinner in basically every single match. I thought he bowed really well in that third ODI against India. So, yeah, we’ve got 20 overs of spin out there if we need it. He’s got an amazing knack of if he misses out with the bat, he contributes with the ball and vice-versa. No doubt, expecting a big tournament from Maxi,” Cummins added.
~ With inputs from PTI
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