The spin-friendly tracks in India have always thrown up challenges to the visiting teams. And when it’s Test cricket, the touring party turns more cautious and starts finding ways to negate the impact. The same is the scenario ahead of the first India vs Australia Test as the Border-Gavaskar Trophy begins Thursday in Nagpur.
The Pat Cummins-led Australia have been training against spin bowling ever since they arrived in the country. They set their base in Alur, near Bengaluru, and even roped in a bowling doppelganger of Ashwin, who made his first-class debut for Gujarat recently.
While the condition of the Nagpur pitch and the amount of turn on offer has become the major talking point in the Australian media, former captain Ian Chappell has come up with a solid piece of advice for the visiting batters.
In a conversation with ESPN Cricinfo, Chappell said the Australian batters, who have a great rapport at home, can only succeed in India if they continue to play their natural game. He gave a special mention to Steve Smith who has a brilliant batting record against spin bowling.
“What’s going to be interesting to me is to see how the Australian batters play in India. They have built up a very good reputation in Australia and there are some very good players in the team. But batting in Australia is very different from batting in India. And there’s only one player, and that’s Steve Smith, who has built very records on his play in India. So, he has established himself,” Chappell told ESPN Cricinfo.
The former Australia captain further warned the Aussies not to change their style of batting. He said if any player tries something different from his natural way of playing, he might land himself in great trouble.
“If you go to a place, even like India, you need to be playing how you play. And that’s one thing you discover pretty early on, just be yourself. So, they got to be themselves. It’s no good if somebody is going to start using his feet; coming down the track or going back quickly to the spinners. That’s not what you normally do. Because you get into huge trouble in India.
“So, I’ll be very interested to see how other players other than Steve Smith play in India. Those that try and play a different game to what they normally play; you have got to make some adjustments, sure, but don’t try and change your way of playing because if you do that, I think, you get into huge trouble,” Chappell concluded.
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