Michael Clarke expects Australian pacers to take onus in India series

After the 2-1 series victory in 2004 Australia have not been able to win a single Test in India and recently, skipper Steve Smith stated that they will try hard to win the upcoming Test series. For their tour of India, Australia have chosen as many as six slow-bowling options. Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe are favoured to play the first Test in Pune, but the squad also has Ashton Agar, Mitchell Swepson, and some part-time offspin and legspin in the form of  Glenn Maxwell and Steven Smith.

But Clarke is of the opinion that Australia should stick to their basic strength- pace bowling - to gain advantage. 

“Australia is predicting that spin is going to play a huge role. But I still think the quicks have a big role to play as well,” Clarke said as reported by cricket.com.au.

“Starc and Hazlewood will need to take a lot of wickets to help Australia win this series. Natural swing with the brand new ball, and especially reserve swing, is going to be really important to the Australian team. Australia is going to need everybody to really perform if they want to beat India in their own backyard,” he said.

However, it is not going to be easy for Starc and co. as the SG ball, which will be used in the series, will not swing as much as the Kookaburra used in Australia.

“India, on the other hand, will want to dominate, they will want to continue to show how good they are in their own backyard,” said Clarke. “Australia has beaten India at home, now India will want to make sure their dominance in their own backyard stays there.”

“I think this Australia team is talented (but) we need to give these players some time to play around the world in different countries, learn, adapt, improve, get better, to see how talented they are. As selectors, all they can really do is pick who they feel are the best players and then give them the opportunity, and I think that’s what they’ve done,” he said.

“This series is going to be a really good eye opener for the players that have never played Test cricket in India, but also for their understanding of how you do face different conditions all around the world,” he concluded.