- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The trip to India is the toughest for any international team to make, and the Australians’ tour beginning in February, will prove to be no different.
Despite naming a flexible squad that includes four slow bowlers, two all-rounders and one spare batsman, Shaun Marsh – who is versatile enough to bat anywhere in the top six – plenty of questions are yet to be answered about the Australians.
Which spin combination will be chosen? Will Glenn Maxwell or Mitch Marsh play as the all-rounder? Will Matt Renshaw get first crack at opening the batting?
I’ve put myself to the test with some educated guesses as to how the tour will play out.
Who will partner Dave Warner at the top of the order?
Despite a successful start in the baggy green, there is still speculation over the role Matt Renshaw will play in India.
With the return from injury and subsequent selection of Shaun Marsh in the squad, selectors have a difficult decision on their hands. Do they stick with the youngster they blooded during the summer series or pick players suited for the vastly different subcontinental conditions?
No-one has quite mastered the change of conditions quite like Matthew Hayden in 2001, when he swept all before him, smashing 549 runs in six innings.
The question is now, should another hulking Queensland left-handed opener be given the chance to replicate those numbers?
I say yes. Not only would I include Renshaw, I would shore-up the middle to lower order with the inclusion of Shaun Marsh at six.
Renshaw is unknown in Indian conditions at this level of cricket which is why I would pick him. The reward far outweighs the risk in having him open with Warner. Not only is he an unknown for the Aussie selectors, he’s also an unknown for the Indians.
Shaun Marsh, on the other hand, was one of the only batsmen to impress during Australia’s last subcontinental tour. The left-hander contributed with an excellent 130 in the third and final Test of the ill-fated Sri Lankan tour, adding to his 141 and 81 to start his five-day career in Pallekele and Colombo back in 2011.
On the back of those numbers alone, I would find it difficult to leave him out.
Who will be the leading run scorer?
No revelation here, but I can’t go past David Warner.
Having hit six centuries this summer and coming off his second successive Allan Border medal win, Warner is heading to India in arguably the best form of his career. The perfect recipe to succeed in this upcoming tour to India.
Outside of the likes of Warner and Steve Smith – who will also be thereabouts – don’t be surprised to see Peter Handscomb do well on his first tour to the subcontinent.
Handscomb’s closest mentor and former Victorian coach Greg Shipperd, has described his charge as having the “best footwork against spin of any Australian batsman since Michael Clarke.”
If Australia is to compete, the likes of Handscomb have no option but to perform as they have in the Australian summer.
Nathan Lyon v Steve O’Keefe?
Steve O’Keefe.
The low, slow turners in India will suit the usually miserly O’Keefe more so than Nathan Lyon, who enjoys a bit of bounce. O’Keefe likes to target the stumps whereas Lyon tends to bowl a bit too straight which the Indians will pick off all day.
Many are suggesting that success in India will stem from Australia’s pace bowling unit. Yet either way, if the Aussie batsmen don’t come to the party, Smith and his bowlers will be restricted in how much they can attack, therefore limiting wicket-taking opportunities.
Who will prove the critics wrong?
Glenn Maxwell appears to be back from the dead as an international player.
Despite the fact coach Darren Lehmann issued Maxwell an ultimatum in December that he wouldn’t be considered for Test cricket until he proved himself with first-class hundreds, selectors have seemingly softened their stance, as they desperately search for all-round players who can add the necessary balance to the first-choice XI.
Averaging 40 with the bat in first-class cricket and a tidy 27 with the ball when he toured India in 2013, Maxwell, who is also a gun in the field, will play a match-winning role at some point during the tour.
And this will ultimately see him become a regular in the baggy green in the future.
Who will leave India under pressure to hold their spot?
It has been noted recently that Matthew Wade’s glovework has improved, and the energy he brings to the Test side is obvious. Yet, will that be enough to see him through what is notoriously a difficult tour for any ‘keeper?
Peter Nevill was unlucky to get the axe for his work with the bat considering how often he was coming in following a collapse of the top order, but he responded to his axing in the best possible way, rattling off an unbeaten 179 in the following Sheffield Shield match.
Make no mistake, the pressure on Wade will not subside until he consistently performs with both bat and gloves, and what better way to silence the critics than by performing in the subcontinent.
Can the Aussies win a Test?
Short answer, no. Why?
Australia has lost its last nine Tests in Asia. On the other hand, India is unbeaten at home since 2012, with Virat Kohli leading the team to wins in ten of their last 12 Tests.
With spin expected to do the most damage, India’s combo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja sit first and second on the Test bowling rankings respectively. Meanwhile, many experts are suggesting Australia’s fast bowling cartel will do the most damage.
Over to you Aussie spinners.
It’s difficult to see anything other than an Indian clean sweep but if Australia can challenge hard in the first Test, confidence may help them push the Indians.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.