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Australia had prepared on specially prepared pitches in Sydney before the tour of India.
Australia had decided not to play a single practice match in India.
New Delhi. Former Australia captain Ian Chappell believes that playing sweep shots is not the only way to survive against spinners on Indian pitches and instead batsmen need good footwork to do well against spinners in sub-continental conditions. Australia’s pre-planned strategy of playing sweep shots against the Indian spinners failed miserably as the hosts won the first two Tests to ensure they retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Now two matches of the four test series are to be played.
Ian Chappell wrote in his column for ‘ESPNcricinfo’, “Playing sweep shots regularly is not the answer to playing good spin bowling and if anyone is saying that, they are not speaking their mind.” He said, “Some players can be very good at playing the sweep shot and they should take advantage of this shot but for most players there are better ways. Any good spinner who gets bounce off the ball is likely to expose the danger of playing sweep shots consistently.”
Australia prepared on specially prepared pitches in Sydney before the tour of India and decided not to play a single warm-up match in India. Chappell wrote, “You can’t learn to play good spin bowling on specially prepared pitches in Australia just before the important tour of India.” He said, “You have to learn good footwork – to get ahead of the crease or to go fast on the backfoot – you have to do it at a young age.”
This former Australian veteran player believes that Pat Cummins and his team made a mistake in formulating their batting strategy before the series. Chappell also questioned Australia’s team selection in the first two Tests. He said, “Australia’s selection on this tour showed absolutely no consistency and was irrational at times. Australia will be a very good team at many venues in the cricket world, but the worries about the India tour should have started much earlier.
Citing the example of Indian captain and opener Rohit Sharma, Chappell feels it is important to survive the first 10 minutes with a bit of luck on spin-friendly Indian pitches. Chappell said, “A successful player has to find out early on how to save the first 10 minutes on a spin-friendly Indian pitch and hope that luck favors him.” The former Australian captain wrote, “It is not impossible to bat on Indian pitches if he plays intelligently as Rohit Sharma did during the series.” The 79-year-old recalled his method of tackling spin in India.
He said, “My perception of playing good spin bowling in India is traditional, based on more than five decades of experience. Can those principles still work? If they are followed, and understanding is shown they can.” Chappell said, “I was taught that if you get stumped, it is not from three inches but from three yards. It was brilliant advice, after which it was told that don’t pay attention to the wicketkeeper, because if you do, you are thinking of missing the ball.
He said, “Based on these suggestions and my training, I relied on my defense in India. If you don’t, as the current Australian team has shown, you can easily panic and play bad shots.”
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Tags: Border Gavaskar Trophy, Ian Chappell, India vs Australia, pat cummins
FIRST PUBLISHED : February 26, 2023, 18:41 IST