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Ian Chappell
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Former Australia captain, now a cricket commentator and columnist
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Spin could be Australia's Achilles heel in India
Picking a second spinner to partner Nathan Lyon, and how to bat on turning tracks will be the big questions for the side
February 10, 2013
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News : Watson open to middle-order role News : Clarke ruled out of final ODI News : Lyon hopes for two-spinner attack News : 'Big role' for Australia's fast men in India - Siddle News : Doherty, Henriques in Test squad for India Features : Making the best of it Players/Officials:
Michael Clarke
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Australia tour of India
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The clash between India and Australia promises to be a classic battle between spin and pace and experience and youth.
Australia's great strength is their hit-man squad of fast bowlers, who will be confronted by an experienced Indian batting line-up. How the young quicks cope with the conditions will play a big part in deciding the series, and it could also shape Sachin Tendulkar's immediate future. A good series might see him carry on in Test cricket, but another poor showing like the one he had against England may prompt him to retire.
Australia will be comforted by the success Jimmy Anderson had in India, and they will prefer to play three fast bowlers: Peter Siddle and Mitchell Starc will be the first picks, and James Pattinson, if he is deemed ready, is likely to be preferred over Mitchell Johnson as the third. But that means Australia will be going in with two bowlers - Siddle and Pattinson - who haven't played any long-form cricket in over a month.
This summer Starc has had consistent success with late movement into right-hand batsmen at a lively pace - a delivery that the highly dangerous Virender Sehwag is most uncomfortable against. His opening partner Gautam Gambhir is, like most batsmen, vulnerable to the away-swinger early on.
Gambhir will be a prized early wicket, because he can attack spinners. Australia will be flustered if he gets on top of Nathan Lyon, who is a steady offspinner - no Graeme Swann, but tidy nonetheless.
However, none of Australia's other spinners has made a mark so far. Choosing the second spinner will be crucial. They may look to cover two bases by using Glenn Maxwell as a second spinner who can add some valuable middle-order runs. India should look to attack him from the outset to dent one of his great strengths - confidence.
If the Indian pitches for the series are raging turners, the other option would be to use medium-fast allrounder Moises Henriques as a third seamer and Xavier Doherty as the second frontline spinner.
Other than not having top-class spinners, Australia's most glaring weakness is batting against quality spin. If their batsmen were facing a traditional Indian side, full of wily spinners, it would have spelt trouble for them, but against this team, which is still trying to decide on its best attack, they will feel they have a chance.
The Australian batting order contains two areas of contention: who will open and where will Michael Clarke bat?
Shane Watson's return to top form in ODIs suggests he'll open with the ultra-aggressive David Warner. That is Australia's best opening combination and it lines up the batting order correctly, with Clarke at No. 4, where he's best suited. Clarke is the best player of spin in the Australian side, so he can't afford to bat any lower than No. 4, otherwise the Indian spinners could have the upper hand by the time he arrives at the crease. With Watson opening, it's likely Australia will have some runs on the board before Clarke has to face the spinners. That makes him a much more dangerous proposition.
That leaves the ungainly but highly effective Phil Hughes at No. 3 and opens up a spot for Usman Khawaja at No. 5. This will be a big test for Khawaja, as he is a bit leaden-footed to start with against spinners, but Australia have to unearth some young batsmen, especially in the middle order. Matthew Wade will bat at No. 6, with Maxwell coming at 7.
The make-up of India's attack will give a clue to how they propose to dismantle the Australian batting. As Australians traditionally play legspin better than the left-arm orthodox variety, I suspect India will choose two left-arm spinners to partner offspinner R Ashwin.
The type of surfaces the four Tests will be played on will have a big part in shaping the result. I expect the pitches to favour spin rather than pace. If that's the case, India will be favourites to win, but only if they have mentally recovered from being beaten by England.
Former Australia captain Ian Chappell is now a cricket commentator for Channel 9, and a columnist
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Ian Chappell
Widely regarded as the best Australian captain of the last 50 years, Ian
Chappell moulded a team in his image: tough, positive, and fearless. Even
though Chappell sometimes risked defeat playing for a win, Australia did not lose a Test series under him between 1971 and 1975. He was an aggressive batsman himself, always ready to hook a bouncer and unafraid to use his feet against the spinners. In 1977 he played a lead role in the defection of a number of Australian players to Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket, which did not endear him to the administrators, who he regarded with contempt in any case. After retirement, he made an easy switch to television, where he has come to be known as a trenchant and fiercely independent voice.
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Pace vs Spin - As English showed a few months ago, Indian spin attack is neither threatening nor Indians were a great player of spin. If MSD is asking for rank turners, the only reason would be to counter the aussie pace. I would think its just a question of how aussie pacemen bowl in Indian conditions and if they come good, think the contest would be even here.
Experience vs Youth - This Indian team is not greatly experienced in playing 5 day games (not that most games go into the 5th day) and even if for argument we accept that it has the experience, it does not have the experience of winning.
As usual its going to be a battle between few individuals and nothing more than that. Given that Aussies are underdogs, I would not be surprised if they go all out to attack, given India's vulnerablility to good pace attack as well as India's tendency to collapse under pressure.
I follow the line of thought that says that we shouldn't play with a strength we don't have. In this case it's a spin attack. Lets play to our strength, it's pace bowling. And while India will no doubt prepare rank turners, an ordinary spin attack will get belted in India as much as any pace attack. In fact history shows that, until recently even good spin attacks get belted in India. In saying that I expect India to be better against us then England, the English gave them a wake up call about their home turf invincibilty and India will be more motivated to save face this time round.
I really think the Indians are vulnerable against top class pace bowling and Siddle, Pattisnson and Staarc will be key. Even on these slow, low pitches, they can get wickets as the englishmen proved.I think the Indians are not high on confidence right now that can be quickly resolved if they win the first test. Australia have done many things right, flying in a set of players early and following up it with others in stages.Many of the Australians like Warner and Watson have played a lot in India and surely that counts for a lot. Remember the Indian spinners too are hardly world beaters.I also think that Johnson should play in the course of the series, the Indians dont like facing his slinging action and to my mind Doherty could be a better bet than Lyon as Monty was fairly successful in India. Australia should be open to making chances and not stuck with their formula. It will be a close series but India should win against a team without Ponting and hussey. Aussie tail will wag! Sridh
Before the Eng series the scenarios would be totally different but now the reailty is Ind are vulenerable but surely not to Lyon/Maxwell/Dohrethy?? I would imagine India will tear these guys apart. If the highly talented Indian batting order cannot tear these three apart they may as well give up playing test cricket. Of the Aus new ball combination Starc and Johnson (is he even in) will pose the greatest challenge - there is no one even close to jimmy so dont get carried away with that idea. Siddle and Paternson I dont think will pose much of a problem on those wickets. The other issue Aus will have is mkaing enough runs to allow their bowlers a chance. Watson and Clark will hold the key with Warner as the dark horse. All three have Indian experience and have had success in India but the rest will struggle. Not many arrive in India for the first time and make alot of runs.
I prefer to look to past series to judge strength. In the last series OZ gave the indians a hell of a run in the first 2 tests. That was an indian side with much more experienced batting than the current one. The key for me is Starc, if he gets his swing going at pace then the pitch becomes irrelevant. It will be a torrid time for an indian side whose younger players are notoriously terrible against pace bowling. My money is on OZ to thrash india , they might struggle at times against the spin but I will back them to do the job.
Posted byAussie's are really going to miss Steve O'keefe and he is far better spinner/bat compared to Lyon or Doherty... India would be really happy with Mike Hussey just announcing his retirement just before this series...
Aussie XI against 1st Test: Warner, Ed Cowan, Hughes, Clarke, Watson, Wade, Maxwell, Johnson, Pattison, Starc, Lyon
Posted by wellrounded87 on (February 12, 2013, 2:44 GMT)Not many people giving Lyon a chance here. He's proved a solid spinner and lumping him in with Doherty Maxwell and Smith is unfair. He's a much better spinner than these guys. He might not be a future great but he's good enough to take wickets when needed and also apply some pressure with good flight and drift. Has everyone forgot how he dismantled SL in SL? I hope he does really well this series to shut up the naysayers. I also hope Johnson can put in a good performance he's been bowling very well lately, much more consistent than he used to be. Still waiting for the next destructive spell from him.
As far as India is concerned i'm interested to see how Pujara and Kohli go. Both show plenty of potential and i think will be the hardest men for us to dispose of. I'm of course assuming Tendulkar and Sehwag continue slipping into senility and don't rediscover their youth in this series.
Posted by krishna_cricketfan on (February 11, 2013, 21:13 GMT)Time and again, it has been proved that good pace attack and/or spin attack can defeat India. I am not sure why spin is always highlighted. Good bowlers depend on their skills and to an extent on the pitch. Legend like McGrath have shown that. Aussies won a test series in India with pace attack. Even the 2001 series was a nail biter. That again was due to McGrath and others. If the Australian bowlers bowl to their potential, Indians will have tough time. The batting lineup is not what it used to be. Is anyone in form? Did not the England bowlers show where we stand? So this is going to be a tough series for India. Indian bowling the less said the better.
Posted by Raki99 on (February 11, 2013, 14:46 GMT)Neither team is capable of taking 20 wickets, Australia have good pace attack thats it but they don't have even a avarage spinners, England won beacuse of their spin attack in india, But again India is a hopelless team when it comes to Test cricket. Their batsman and bowlers are all mediocore. Tendulkar is just playing to get to 200 test matches. He is done and dusted same can be said about sehwag. Dhoni as a captain in test cricket is joke. i see a tie or a aus win in this series. BCCI thanks for droping Ghambir as he was a giving nice slip cathing practice to the opposition... India's bolwing is mess too the spinners are horrible and pacers don't have enough pace. 5 years from now we will only have three nations playing test cricket. England Australia and south africa.
Posted by NP_NY on (February 11, 2013, 13:14 GMT)Not to worry Ian. Looks like spin is going to be India's achilles heel too. Actually India's bowling is going to be India's achilles heel....and India's opening batsmen....and India's middle order. I'd love for the Indian team to prove me wrong though. I strongly doubt they will.