Prepare well for the Indian tour Australia, but don't get beaten psychologically

As Australia gets ready to tour India for a four Test series in February-March next year, they have to prepare well psychologically.

In the just-concluded series against a full strength England team, India won convincingly on a pitch that also aided seam bowlers as well as spinners.

What a magnificent series win for India, 4-0. The last two Tests – at Chennai and Mumbai – by big margins.

England lost these Tests by an innings after winning the toss and scoring over 400 runs (400 in Mumbai and 477 in Chennai) in the first innings. This is a world first in 139 years of Test history.

No team in the past has made more than 450 runs and lost by an innings. The previous best was England’s total of 432 at The Oval against Australia in August 2001.

After England totalled 477 in the recent Chennai Test, Karun Nair – playing only his third Test – scored 303 not out. He became only the second Indian to register a triple century in Tests.

The debonair Virender Sehwag had made 319 against South Africa also at Chennai in 2007-08 and 309 v. Pakistan at Multan in 2003-04.

Opening batsman Lokesh Rahul started India’s run-marathon by scoring an elegant 199. Thanks to these two relative newcomers from Karnataka, India declared at 7 for 759, its highest total in the Test arena.

It appeared that the Test would end in a boring draw when England was 103 for no wicket on the final day. Just then left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja struck. He captured 7 for 48 and England was rolled out for 207 to lose by an innings 75 runs.

They had lost their last ten wickets for only 104 runs. The pitch was as good as when India had amassed 759 the previous day. But for the declaration India could have touched 900, so fluent was Nair’s stroke-play.

England with a good batting line up of Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Moeen Ali could have and should have drawn the Test. But psychologically they saw demons on the pitch. Jadeja is a good spinner, but not a Jim Laker, Richie Benaud, BS Chandrasekhar, Shane Warne or Muttiah Muralitharan.

It was poor application by the English batsmen and the fear that the pitch will turn prodigiously.

Australian bats should learn from the errors of their English counterparts. Before they start the tour of India, the curators down under should prepare turning tracks for practice matches.

For his superb and unbeaten innings of 303, Karun Nair was man of the match just ahead of Jadeja who captured ten wickets in the match as well as hitting an aggressive 51.

Skipper Virat Kohli was adjudged Man of the Series after scoring a mountain of runs; 655 at a century average of 109.16. He hit two centuries (highest score 235) and two fifties.

Ravichandran Ashwin also had strong claims for this award having taken 28 wickets at an average of 30.25 and scoring 306 runs at 43.71.

The magnitude of India’s facile victories over England cannot be over emphasised. In the Mumbai Test, Kohli (235 runs) outscored England (195) in the second innings. And in the Chennai Test, Nair (303 not out) outscored England (207) in the second innings.

And all of India’s wins in this series came on fairly good batting pitches.

Looking at a broader picture at Test level, India is ranked No.1 ahead of Australia, Kohli is ranked No.2 batsman (behind Australia’s Steven Smith) and Ashwin ranked No.1 bowler and No.1 all-rounder.

Australia, be prepared for facing a strong team oozing confidence on your Indian tour in February–March 2017. But don’t create psychological problems for yourselves.