Australia skipper Steve Smith, while admitting that his side are underdogs in the four-match Border-Gavaskar series against India starting on Thursday, was defiant about predictions of a whitewash. The 27-year-old batsman pinned his team’s chances on their ability cope with India’s spin threat.
India are on a red-hot streak after comprehensively beating New Zealand, England and Bangladesh in their recent home Tests. This prompted veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh to predict another 4-0 whitewash for Australia, like 2013, and taunted the visitors by calling them “the weakest Australian side to tour India”.
However, Smith, who had earlier urged his team to sledge India, shrugged off the 36-year-old’s comments. “Everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, I don’t believe that’s the case. I’m confident in the squad and we’ve got here to compete against India. Yes, I guess we are the underdogs in this series. You hear comments like Harbhajan who expect us to lose 4-0. That’s not how we feel. We want to compete here against India. It’s going to be a tough series, they’ve got some quality players in their line-up. So yes, it’s going to be difficult,” Smith said.
India’s spin threat
Smith acknowledged India’s spin threat, which has been a hurdle too far to overcome for many visiting batsmen in the recent past. The World No.1 Test batsman warned his side about the unpredictable conditions that can flummox players. “I think that’s one of the big challenge of playing spin bowling in Asia, uncertainty of what the ball is sort of going to do off the pitch. Playing spin in Australia is generally pretty consistent. It’s here where there is uncertainties that we can become unstuck as a batter. For us it’s ensuring we have a plan to play against the spinners like [Ravichandran] Ashwin, [Ravindra] Jadeja and the other spinner that they are going to choose tomorrow,” Smith said.
Smith’s first big challenge as a leader came in Sri Lanka, where they were whitewashed 0-3. Australia failed to stem the rot even at home, losing to South Africa in the first two Test before winning the third, and completing a turnaround with a dominant display against Pakistan.
“I learnt quite a lot out of playing in Sri Lanka. Things didn’t go according to plan there, but as a captain I’ve learnt a bit about how to go about things in the subcontinent. Playing in these conditions, there’s a different tempo that always goes on, times when you need to attack and times when you need to defend. So for me as captain, it’s about identifying these periods quickly and not letting the game get away too much. For me, it’s about identifying those moments and coming up with the right plan at the right time,” Smith added
Starc attack
Smith also hailed left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc, who is considered by many to be best pacer in international cricket today. Despite Australia plummeting to one defeat after another in the Emerald Isles, Starc came out with his reputation enhanced, picking up 24 wickets from three Tests on dry, turning wickets.
“First of all, is the fact that he can bowl 150 kmph. That’s a good start. But with that, you’ve also got to have some skills to take wickets, particularly on slow wickets. He’s a very good reverse bowler, he controls the ball really well. So that’s a great starting point for a fast bowling spearhead in the sub-continent conditions, where the wickets aren’t quick and you can’t bounce guys out.”
“You have to have other plans, and getting the ball to shift in the air is a big weapon for fast bowlers. When the ball is shifting, he is one of the bets going around. We’ve lost nine Tests in Asia, and we want to win one. So we’re going to be trying our best to do that,” Smith concluded.
