Australia’s biggest worry in their tournament opener against India on Sunday could be the twin-threat from left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja and left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav possibly on a gripper of a pitch here. To that end, the Australians on Friday devoted some time to polish their skills against that variety of spin at their nets, which was briefly delayed by a passing shower.
Veteran opener David Warner set the tone for the session, asking for local left-arm finger and wrist spinners. Although Warner tried to play some crafty and cheeky strokes, he did struggle against them and was also knocked over on an instance.
Besides Warner, Mitchell Marsh also tried his hand against the left-arm spinners, and he too visibly struggled while trying to negate the tweakers. Other than the local bowlers, the Australians also faced their own spinners like Adam Zampa, Marnus Labushagne and D’Arcy Short, with Cameron Green, Steven Smith, Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell and Josh Inglis batting against them.
The Australian batters attacked the spinners and hit them clean on some occasions, but they mainly focused on rotation of strike, drives and flicks towards mid-wicket, areas that will come handy while tackling spinners.
It was not all spinners for the Kangaroos throughout the session, as pacers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins sweat it out as well, whereas a local pacer was also pressed into the action. Starc was able to generate some swing and pace, and he also once dismissed Smith.
Among the batters, Smith was the pick during an extended session. The former Aussie captain batted for nearly an hour and 30 minutes, while he also had a lengthy session on Thursday. Interestingly, all-rounder Marcus Stoinis had just about a 30-minute session with the bat unlike his nearly-an-hour session on Thursday night.
