The IND vs NZ series wasn’t the best for home batsmen. None of our batters could score runs freely, that is usually not the case in India. But spinning-tracks is what brought their downfall. Once touted as the best players of spin, our batsmen fell prey to Glenn Phillips, Ajaz Patel, and even Mitchell Santner, in three different Tests.
Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli vs Spin
Nothing explains the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, not being able to gauge the spin, trajectory, line and length. Not that they are bad players of spin, but emerged as the worst players of spin in the IND vs NZ series. And if stats are to be taken in account, IND vs AUS series could just be another disaster for them.
Kohli, vs spinners during the recent series, only averaged 13.40. Who can forget his dismissal to Santner in Pune, where he went for a sweep shot, and just missed the ball completely. Rohit fared even poorer, with an average of 10.50 against the Kiwi spinners. Now, with Australia’s Nathan Lyon waiting in the wings, he would be itching to bowl at these two.
It’s true that the wickets in Australia will be far better than India’s, but then Lyon isn’t about spinning the ball, but more about tight lines, loop in the delivery and even bounce. Come the Sydney Test, on January 3, it would be the best wicket for spin, and it would become even more difficult for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to tackle Nathan Lyon.
Just look at his record. He has 530 wickets in 129 games, at an average of 30.28. In Australia, he has 259 wickets in 67 matches. So he can very well do what the Kiwi spinners did to India in India. And Ro-Ko need to be well prepared for it.
Having said that, there will be a lot of expectations from Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar, who were brilliant against the spinners. Pant averaged 49.50, while Washington averaged 44.50. Shubman Gill averaged 29.50, and Yashasvi Jaiswal 25.50. So, yes, these batters will have to fill in for the failure of the two “best batsmen” in the team, if the need arises.
