5 Australian Test batsmen who shone in India

Cricket is a tough game, especially when played on foreign turf. Every team, every player and every coach tries to do well in an away series because they know that it is the demanding away victory that counts over the simple home win.

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The Indian subcontinent, with its turning tracks, has always been a malady for the Australians, who are used to pace and bounce. In spite of that, some batsmen from Down Under have managed to make their mark in the Indian editions of the Border-Gavaskar trophy. They created an impact from the word go and did not quiver under pressure from their surroundings.

Here are five batsmen who have done well in the spin-friendly tracks of India

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#5 Steve Waugh

Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100s	50s
9	15	521	47.36	1	2

While Steve Waugh could never achieve his ‘Final Frontier’ of winning a series in India, he definitely won as a batsman. The only feather missing from the Australian’s cap is not a World Cup trophy, but a series win in India. One can understand his predicament, though – his team was up against arguably the best test team India has ever produced.

He did come close in 2001, though.

After having won the first Test of the series, Waugh scored 110 in the first innings of the Kolkata Test to propel his team to a dominant score of 445 and enforced a follow-on soon. Everyone knows what happened after that. VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid took stance and batted through an entire day. Harbhajan Singh took 13 wickets to bring the Indians home.

While marvelling over this spectacular win, cricketing experts and fans alike forgot to applaud Waugh’s sturdy century of the first innings. The Australian captain played well in the Chennai Test too. With a pair of 47s, he tried to stamp his authority on the match. He was given out for handling the ball in the first innings which was one of the biggest talking points of the series.

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With India having lost 8 wickets while chasing 155, Australia came tantalisingly close to clinching Waugh’s coveted dream. However, a nail-biting chase from the Indians ensured that the home team took the series 2-1.

The biggest plaudit that Waugh, the batsman, deserves is that he managed to turn the tables after his disastrous tour of India in 1986. He had managed to accumulate just 59 runs in three matches then.

He improved with an unbeaten 67 in the 1996 lone Test in Delhi and backed it up with a solid 80 in the 1998 series. His improved slog sweep assisted him in handling spin and with players like Warne and McGrath besides him, his confidence peaked. He came into his own in 2001 and scored 243 runs at a reliable average of 48.

#4 Damien Martyn

Martyn was excellent at using his feet against the spinners

Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100s	50s
4	8	444	55.50	2	2

Damien Martyn played just one series in India but he made sure that he owned it completely! With his textbook driven technique and strong offside play, he managed to be the highest run scorer of the 2004-05 tour. He was in the Australian Test squad in the 2001 tour but could not find a place in the playing 11 then.

In the 2004 series, Martyn not only slammed two hundreds and two fifties in the tour but was also declared the Man of the Series.

After Mark Waugh retired, Martyn ensured that he made the No. 4 spot in the Aussie team his own. His incredible performance in the series gave Australia what they came looking for – a Test series victory on Indian soil after a long wait of almost four decades!

(Video Courtesy: robelinda2 YouTube Channel)

He scored two back-to-back centuries and was close to making it three with his score of 97 in Mumbai. The 104 he made in Chennai got his team out of an early-collapse pickle and helped them draw the match to sustain the 1-0 lead in the series. He followed that up with a blistering 114 that sealed the series for them. At the controversial Wankhede pitch of the last Test match, Martyn went on to couple his 97 with a 55 in the second innings to cap a special series for him.

“It was the most memorable series win,” Martyn said later on when asked about the 2004 India series.

#3 Neil Harvey

Harvey was part of Bradman’s Invincibles team

Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100s	50s
8	11	609	55.36	3	2

As we add more pages to the history books, we tend to forget its initial chapters. Neil Harvey, one of the best batsmen of his era and the youngest of Bradman’s Invincibles, was a force to be reckoned with. Especially in India, his average towered over all the countries that he toured.

The left-hander always loved playing against India – his first Test century came against a hapless Indian team in Melbourne. He was 19-years-old then, which made him the youngest cricketer with a Test century. Out of the three centuries that he scored in India, one contributed to a victory and two resulted in draws.

His 114 at Feroz Shah Kotla played a massive role in Australia reaching a mammoth total of 468. He was the only centurion of the innings then. He played two Test series in India – 1956, 1959-60 – the visitors won them both (2-0, 2-1).

The reason behind Harvey’s astounding success in India was his aggressive stroke play. He did not shy away from coming down the wicket to spin bowlers. The fact that he was not stumped even once in his career is a clear testament of his talent.

#2 Michael Clarke

Clarke score a century on debut against India in Bangalore

Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100s	50s
13	25	972	40.50	3	4

Michael Clarke may have the lowest average in the list, but he has also played the maximum number of matches. The former Australian captain not only scored three hundreds in India but was also able to sustain a healthy strike rate while doing so.

(Video Courtesy: Honey Singh YouTube Channel)

The tour of 2004-05 was his debut series and he started with a bang. In his first match at Bangalore, he went on to score a 151 for the visitors and received the Man of the Match award in the gargantuan Australian victory. His next big performance was for a winning cause too when he scored 91 in Nagpur. His next centuries included an 112 in the Delhi draw of 2008 and the 130 in the Chennai loss of 2013. That particular series proved to be tough on him as a captain but it did not affect his flair as a batsman.

Clarke’s aggression, which showed in his captaincy, helped him become the perfect batsman for subcontinent pitches. His complete game, paired with this vigour, did wonders for him every time he toured the country.

#1 Matthew Hayden

Hayden was an excellent sweeper of the ball which helped him combat spin

Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100s	50s
11	22	1027	51.35	2	5

Who was scarier than Ricky Ponting? Whose presence seemed more daunting than Adam Gilchrist’s? Ask any Indian these questions, and the answer would be Matthew Hayden. The batting average of the left-hander in India is higher than his overall career average too.

In the early-2000s, he was a nightmare for every Indian - not many fans would forget the aggressive style of batting he displayed against the Indian team in 2001. He had a Herculean average of 109.80 in the series with scores of 119 in Mumbai, 97 and 67 in Kolkata and 203 in Chennai, where he batted through the first day. He was in Zeus-mode throughout the series and did not stop until it was over.

(Video Courtesy: CricClassics YouTube Channel)

Compared to that series, the 2004-05 series was average for the left-hander where he could score just a fifty and a couple of 30s. He gathered momentum in the 2007-08 tour and piled scores of 83 and 77 to his name.

Hayden was a strong name in the mighty Australian team and every time he landed in India, he made a point to prove that to the world.