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Handscomb the key to Australia's efforts to battle spin in India

Roar Rookie
22nd February, 2017
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Peter Handscomb in happier times. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)
Roar Rookie
22nd February, 2017
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The newest star on the Australian cricket scene has arrived in the form of the 25-year-old Victorian, Peter Handscomb.

After just a handful of Test matches, he would seem to have entrenched his position in the side on the basis of a consistent run of scores, including two centuries. He’s yet to be dismissed for less than 50.

But now the squad is in India to take on the world’s best team on their turf.

The pressure will be ramped up on Handscomb because he is regarded as the best player of spin in the Australian domestic game. The Victorian is seen as a batsman with the potential to blunt the threat of the potent Indian attack featuring Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja.

Handscomb’s renowned method of managing spin bowling can be expected to set an example for the rest of the team to follow, if they’re to build the big first innings scores necessary to challenge India at home.

The main idea behind the Handscomb method for handling the spinners is simply to prevent the ball from being able to grip and turn, by getting right to the pitch of the ball, hitting it either on the full or on the half volley, in order to reduce the threat of each delivery. There is rarely a ball bowled by a spinner that he will stay in his crease for.

Handscomb’s willingness to leave his ground is based on his unusual stance, deep in his crease, where he is often positioned to the point where he is just centimetres away from the stumps. When facing spinners the stance has the potential to put him at greater risk of being trapped LBW, or it may lead to him even hitting his own wicket, which has already proved to be his downfall in one Test match innings.

The difficulty that Handscomb will face is the unpredictability of the Indian pitches and their bowlers. However if he can get a handle on how the pitches are behaving, and learn quickly how to pick the spinners variety of deliveries, then just as was the case in the home series against Pakistan, he could be hard to remove.

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Handscomb has the ability to endure long stays at the crease with both of his centuries coming with strike rates either side of 50. This could be very important in India due to the persistent lines and lengths bowled by Ashwin and Jadeja which cause even the best batsmen to dry up their run scoring.

He has also had his fair share of luck at the start of his innings with many a delivery narrowly missing the edge and being dropped a couple of times as well. These chances have dried up once he gets his eye in after roughly 15-20 deliveries, but expect India to be far better in the field than Pakistan.

Australia has had very limited success in the sub-continent, losing their last series over there to a Sri Lankan team that was much weaker on paper. Nothing less than a strong sustained fight by the Aussies this time will be crucial to demonstrate the progression of the team in the last six months.

Peter Handscomb could just turn out to be the x-factor if he is able to continue the scintillating form that he has displayed thus far.

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