Kolkata: It’s indeed good news in one sense that Virat Kohli’s boys will be facing an in-form Australian team that is set to visit the country next month for a 4-match Test series. Steve Smith’s Australia has thrashed Misbah-ul-Haq’s Pakistan with a complete whitewash after winning the third and the final test at the Sydney Cricket Ground by 220 runs.
The Aussies humiliated by South Africa, needed a resurrection and Smith’s boys have risen to the occasion. Now, the forthcoming Test series between India and Australia has indeed got the much needed momentum. A beleaguered Australian team up against Team India that looks invincible after series victories against West Indies, New Zealand and England, could have taken the sheen off the series, despite an Indo-Aussie clash always giving wholesome entertainment to fans.
But the Aussies are brimming with confidence and with Smith and his deputy David Warner in form, the Men from Down Under are ready to face R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Jayant Yadav on rank turners in India. But they are in no mood to sound complacent and the skipper leads from the front and shows no signs of getting carried away.
“It’s going to be a very difficult series going over there. We’re under no illusions it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be a great challenge and learning curve for this group. I think the core of this group will take part in India. A few of us have been there before and we know it’s difficult play in their own backyard. They’re a very good team. We’re going to have to play incredibly well over there if we’re going to compete with India,” Smith was quoted by Reuters after the one-sided series victory against Pakistan.
Beating India in India is perhaps the toughest task a team from outside the sub-continent faces and Aussies would second that after being decimated by MS Dhoni’s team in a complete whitewash in 2013. Looking at the Indian team, there is no short of fire power under a young leader who has just been handed over captaincy in all the three formats of the game. India has depth in its batting with even the lower order chipping in. Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara are in good nick and so are Murali Vijay and KL Rahul. Karun Nair has been the surprise package scoring a triple hundred against England. Alastair Cook’s men struggled to read Ashwin and Jadeja and the two can make life difficult for Smith’s men.
But one would be a fool to write the Australians off. Smith and Warner are in great touch and in the bowling department Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are amongst wickets. Yet Smith knows they won’t be getting tracks that would make his pacers ecstatic. How much pace Starc and Hazlewood generate out of the slow wickets in India would be questionable. Perhaps, the Australian skipper has to rely on spin but does he have world-class spinners who can win matches for him?
However, if we look at the larger picture, it’s going to be a battle between the Australian batting and the Indian bowling and that would decide the fate of the series. But there is no denying it’s going to be the mother of all battles. Two young skippers, both hailed as modern greats with young sides at their disposal — for sure there will be a lot of verbal spats on the field as has always been the case when the two sides face.
India will play England in three ODIs and three T20s followed by a Test against Bangladesh. Australia meanwhile has ODIs against Pakistan and New Zealand and T20 matches against Sri Lanka before landing in India. The confidence of the teams will be bolstered if both India and Australia maintain the winning flow. After all, it’s all about mind games!