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Opinion
It wasn’t the greatest finish to the series with the fourth match fizzling out into a draw but the Aussies can be satisfied they’re in a strong position heading into the World Test Championship final.
A 2-1 result was a scoreline that Australia can feel pretty comfortable with considering all the injuries and personnel changes they had to put up with during the tour and the fact that a clean sweep was looking on the cards after the first two matches.
The big disappointment was day three of the second Test in Delhi. We’d got ourselves into a position where we could have won that game and who knows what happens from there but that batting collapse stopped us from being able to win back the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
There are plenty of positives to take out of the tour
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It was massive for Green to get his first Test hundred in this fourth Test in Ahmedabad and it underlines how big a loss he was in the first couple of matches when his broken finger hadn’t healed properly.
Cameron Green of Australia celebrates after scoring his century. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
He’s now got runs in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India, we know what he can do at home and I think he’s in for a big tour of England for the WTC final and the Ashes.
A six-foot seven all-rounder, you might think facing spin could be a weakness but he gets that long stride down the pitch, plays within the V and has really good patience.
It’s just another exciting sign for how good this guy can be and you tend to forget he’s still only 23.
It’ll be hard against England for Green in the runs department up against the quality of their quicks but his bowling should prosper – I wouldn’t be surprised if he does better with the ball over there than the bat.
No one has averaged over 40 with the bat and under 30 with the ball in Test history – his batting average is already up to 37.64 and he’s bowling at 34.3. I think he’s capable of hitting those benchmarks.
Khawaja missed out in the first Test but for him to bounce back and be the leading run-scorer for either side in the series.
He’s also now got runs in all types of conditions in Asia and looking back on his career he’s been underplayed, especially as an opener.
Uzzy is averaging a tick under 70 since he’s been back in the team since the start of last year – that’s insane.
It solidifies the top of the order and the only real question now is who opens with him in England because I’d be moving Travis Head back to No.5.
I think it’s still too early to write off David Warner but he needs to get runs in this ODI series in India to boost his confidence.
Matt Renshaw has slid back a bit after a few low scores in the middle order and Marcus Harris has suffered from being in the Test squad at home for the first half of the summer and not getting much game time.
The big question for Warner and Harris is what’s going to be different from four years ago in England so I think they need a right-hander.
The guy who I think the selectors should seriously consider is Cameron Bancroft as the only right-hander of that bunch.
He’s scored bulk runs in the Shield for WA this summer. He used to have a closed bat face, get bowled through the gap or LBW, little edges a lot but it looks like his bat plane is a lot straighter.
Once James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson, let alone Mark Wood and Jofra Archer, get into a groove it’s hard to get the momentum back.
With Bancroft and Renshaw both going on the Aussie A tour to New Zealand next month where they’ll be batting against a Dukes ball, that will probably decide who gets on the plane to England.
I’d be taking Peter Handscomb as the back-up option for the middle order after he acquitted himself well in India.
Usman Khawaja is delighted to reach his ton in Ahmedabad. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
I thought our bowling in India overall was pretty good on this tour.
We always knew Lyon was going to deliver but Murphy and Kuhnemann were revelations and for Rahul Dravid to come out afterwards and say our spin was the best they’ve faced since Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar led England to a series victory in 2012 is massive praise.
And Rohit Sharma said he didn’t face Shane Warne and Murali Muralitharan but for him to say Lyon’s the best spinner to come to India since them is another huge wrap.
Steve Smith said Gazza’s never bowled better and it’s hard to argue otherwise.
When Murphy wasn’t getting wickets, the Indians weren’t able to score off him. Indian batters love to run down the wicket to young spinners and take them down but they couldn’t do that with him or Kuhnemann.
Unfortunately for that pair, I’m not sure when they’ll be needed again in a Test because there’s not going to be many options to play two spinners let alone three.
Matthew Kuhnemann celebrates taking the wicket of Umesh Yadav. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
It’s like being the second-best wicketkeeper – there’s no a lot of gigs to fill.
We’re not going back to the subcontinent again until early 2025 when there’s two Tests in Sri Lanka. It’s a bit of a shame that we’ve crammed tours to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India over the past 12 months and then there’s not much else on spinning tracks in the next couple of years.
The Ashes are going to be bloody exciting but first up we’ve got to win this World Test Championship.
Playing at The Oval isn’t too bad for India because it generally turns a bit and Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are guns anywhere.
Their batting is still a little fragile and their lower order saved them on a few occasions but I think they’ll find it harder in England against Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood in those conditions.
I’d be backing us to win over there and get some revenge.
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