India and Spin - No more the same old love story
BCCI
Two ODIs down and without two of their top three batsmen, Australia were in danger of starting the year with a whitewash against India. Do you know what happened after that? Spin, India and the home advantage, all of it lost its plot as Australia came out on top in India to take the series 3-2.
What makes it promising for Australia ahead of this series you may ask? Since then, the pitches have largely been on the quicker, pacier end with spin not making an impact. A finer look into the matches, and in particular the series against West Indies and South Africa and you will figure out how the pitches have tended to be on the flatter side with the Indian spinners Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav all suffering, when it mattered except for the one occasion and that, was due to variations and not spin.
To be more precise, since January 11, 2019, Indian spinners have only accounted for 22 wickets in contrast to the 28 wickets taken by the Indian pace attack. Further, to strengthen, only 14 games were played by Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar amongst the pacers as India had to switch and change due to the various injuries. If we look at the conditions more minuscule, 43 wickets were taken by the Indian seamers at home against 21 taken by the spinners.
By the day, the conditions are becoming more alienating for the spinners as the Indian seamers are coming to the ascendancy. This time this Australian attack will also possess the lethal weapon of Mitchell Starc, who has picked up 27 wickets last year after missing the flight to India earlier in the same year. The left-arm pacer, who is arguably one of Australia’s best white-ball bowlers, is on the flight and by the time we talk about it already toiling hard in India to prove a point.
“I think spinners play a bigger part in India than they do around the world but it’s rare you get a big spinning dust bowl for a one day international,” Australian pacer Pat Cummins told reporters ahead of Australia’s departure.
Well, it really looks like Cummins is still catching up the pace with the changing conditions in India and would be thrilled to find that this time, the pitches are tailor-made for them to exploit. Look at India’s record at home last year, the top of the leading wicket-takers list contains three seamers Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma which is sandwiched in between a solitary name of Ravichandran Ashwin, who is wagging the long tail for the home side.
The trend shown by the wickets in India, as recently as in the West Indies series, would suggest how the conditions have changed making it more friendly to the pacers. Referring yet again to statistics, 28 wickets were picked up by the pacers in comparison to the petty number of 6 wickets taken by the spinners in the three-match series. How is it going to make it easy for Australia, well truth be told, India are not the best of sides at home at the moment and are vulnerable in the middle overs as exposed by the Windies side? A side with a better bowling unit is more than capable of exploiting the Indian batting order. Last time, it was Pat Cummins who was the most successful bowler in the series against India, with 14 wickets in the series.
Who was the most successful bowler for West Indies in their series? It was Keemo Paul who took 6 wickets followed by Sheldon Cottrell with 5 wickets. How about for India, well nothing starkly different as Shami ran through the Windies batting with five wickets against his name. If there is one thing that we learnt from the series between the two sides, it was that the conditions are getting better to bat as the day goes on and as evident even on a slow, sluggish Chennai track the aggregate runs was 578, as the Indian spinners struggled.
On a batting track, all it matters is, which batting unit is more ready to take the contest by their hand and edge the other one out and at the moment, Australia would be rusty but rearing to go. India have had a few hiccups in the ODI format and Australia, coming back from a successful Test home season, would be bouncing off the confidence taking on Kohli and co.
Furthermore, the duo Steve Smith and David Warner return for the second time following their ban, and the last time they played in India, they were successful for their franchises in the Indian Premier League. Well, the prodigal son returns, guess who? Mitchell Starc! Starc’s absence was massive last time in India, however, this time he would be there right when Pat Cummins and the bowling attack need him, in the powerplay to pick wickets.
With that Australia would be having two wicket-takers in the pace department in Starc and Cummins. Alongside that, Australia also have picked up three spinners as a back-up, which includes Adam Zampa, who has since the World Cup underwent a massive change in his bowling action and has returned as a better bowler. Having him in the middle over gives Australia an immense balance in the bowling department.
This series also would mark the way forward for both the sides, Australia in particular, who look to revamp the ODI side following the dismissal run in the World Cup last year. Usman Khawaja no more is a regular and Smith no longer a No.4 player which only means that Australia are getting their balance right and at the right time keeping the two World Cups in mind.
Smith at No.3 and the arrival of ‘Marnus-run-machine’ would help the Australian side in the middle order. Alongside that, they have kept a place for the last time hero Peter Handscomb, who is one of the many players in the current setup who can play spin better, or rather in fact very well. If Handcomb, Labuschagne and Zampa all bring their ‘A’ game on the flight to India, Australia very well will be brimming with confidence and lightning can and will strike the same place twice.
