India vs Australia 2017: Australia stare at ‘dry clean’

To his credit, Kohli didn’t react much and stuck to the cricket captain’s usual shtick of “we only focus on our team and not the opposition”. But you couldn’t blame him if at that point he wanted to chuckle at the fact that the Aussies were panicking even before a single ball has been bowled in the series.

Around an hour later, Steve Smith refrained from giving away the identity of his team’s final playing XI — which in itself is very un-Aussie like. He did, however, drop a hint by describing the pitch at the MCA Stadium in Pune as being “incredibly dry for a day before the Test match”. He’d also expressed fears that the pitch was “dry and crusty with a couple of divots and it will take spin from ball one” to the Australian media earlier in the day.

Incidentally, the only talk around India’s team combination leading up to the first Test also involves the inclusion of three spinners. That too would have to do with the state of the pitch, which will also dictate that it’s Bhuvaneshwar Kumar who makes way for either Jayant or Kuldeep Yadav. But the reasons behind the decision to fortify the spin department couldn’t be more contrasting.

For India, it is a positive move, considering the perceived ineptness of the Australian batsmen against spin. For Australia, it’s a shot in the dark, a move based on hope at best and desperation at worst.

By bringing in one of the Yadavs, India’s team balance or their bowling attack’s potency will not get affected even the slightest. But imagine the plight in the Australian team dynamics if they did go in with Nathan Lyon, Stephen O’Keefe and Ashton Agar — who will likely get the nod ahead of the unknown leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson.

Leaving out Hazlewood would leave all-rounder Mitchell Marsh to take the new-ball alongside Mitchell Starc. While Marsh did get a hang of it during the practice-match at the CCI last week, that leaves the Aussie attack looking very pedestrian. Smith will obviously want to use Starc in short bursts, firstly since he’s his solitary impact bowler then and also to keep his premier fast bowler fit enough to last the entire series. That means he’ll have to turn to spin very early in the piece.

The Maxwell option

The other option the Aussies have is playing Glen Maxwell as the spin-bowling all-rounder in place of the younger Marsh brother and accommodating Hazlewood. This should ideally be a better option, but Australia bank a lot on Marsh shouldering the responsibility of the lower middle-order along with wicket-keeper Matthew Wade. So that makes him a certainty, leaving them with no option but to field three specialist spinners.

India didn’t feel the need for Jayant Yadav at Hyderabad against Bangladesh where they went in with the extra seamer. Generally the only rant you would hear about the strategy is about how the third spinner would get under-bowled. But the emergence of Jayant as someone who doubles up as a conservative as well as attacking option has enabled Kohli to find a perfect concoction with all three.

On the other hand, Smith has never captained a team with three spinners, which as Kohli has proved in recent months is an art-form in itself. The Australian captain saw it first-hand when he was here last during the whitewash of 2013, and seems to have picked up on the pros of having that extra tweak option in these conditions.

“When someone started to look a little bit comfortable against one of the spinners they’d just change it and bowl someone else. And then when they start looking comfortable against them they go back. And you can chop and change and not let the batter get in a bit of a rhythm against a spinner,” he said.

Unproven quality

While that sounds very good on paper, the problem for Smith is the unproven quality of most of his spinners. Lyon himself only came to terms with Indian pitches in the final Test at Delhi. Agar and O’Keefe are known more as defensive spinners who are yet to prove their mettle at the highest level despite having been around the scene for a few years. And Australia have been given enough of a forewarning that the Indians will come after their spinners in their practice-match.

So it’s not only a question of how Lyon & Co would react to a potential onslaught but also whether Smith could keep his wits about him. For, if all three spinners get hit out of the game, who does Smith turn to? With Hazlewood around, he at least has an insurance policy of tying one end up. It would be too much of an ask of Marsh to provide that stability, especially since he and Starc will also have to remain fresh enough to make the most of the reverse-swing that the MCA stadium should encourage.

Unfortunately, Australia’s only other option to bowl seam-up is David Warner, which says it all.

“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 before you start to defend, or attacking quick enough,” is how Smith explained it.

History doesn’t support a visiting team, especially one from outside the subcontinent, employing a strategy that is alien to them.

England tried it without any great success as Kohli & Co piled on the runs. And the only teams that have tasted success in India have done it by sticking to their strengths, which is fast bowling. Though Shane Warne did have his best-ever Test series in 2004, the series was won on the back of stellar performances from Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz. The same goes for South Africa and Dale Steyn.

The only team that did give India a taste of their own medicine was England in 2012 with Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar.

But that was an Indian batting line-up who suddenly seemed to have lost their confidence against spin. It was also the era of Duncan Fletcher and the wide stance, which hindered the footwork of a number of Indian batsmen. Indian batsmen have gotten a lot more mobile though with many having reverted to a narrower stance. Not surprisingly, they have dominated spin during the home season.

And despite suspicions of the track being one that might end the Test in three days, Australia will need a lot more than an outlandish ‘horses for courses’ strategy to trip if not stop the Indian juggernaut.

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