The visitors from Down Under endured a nightmare when they toured India the last time around. The Australian team was then led by Michael Clarke and his team were left clueless in their quest to counter the Indian spinners. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja shared 53 wickets between themselves.
The Australians did not offer any resistance in any of four Test matches of that series and the 2012/13 Tour of India went down in their history as the worst Indian tour ever.
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Contrastingly, the Australian side who are taking on India in four Test matches have prepared well in advance. After the conclusion of the Big Bash League in early January, the 16-member squad travelled to Dubai to practice in sub-continental conditions at the ICC Global Cricket Academy for over a month.
We look at 5 players who were a part of Australia’s miserable visit in the year 2012/13 and are also part of this tour.
#5 Matthew Wade
Matthew Wade has a been part of the Australian limited overs setup regularly since making his T20I debut in 2011, but his Test and ODI debut came a little over five months later. Although Wade has cemented his place in limited overs, he has played a very sporadic role in the Test format.
He was a part of the 2013 tour of India where he managed to score a mere 113 runs in 6 innings he batted. He had a miserable time in India with a batting average of just 18.83.
However, he was very tidy with the wicket-keeping gloves. He pouched four catches behind the wicket but was not lucky enough to stump any India batsmen. For the upcoming tour, Wade will be determined to improve his record as he will walk into the series with a first-class fifty which he scored comfortably in the warm-up match against India A.
#4 Mitchell Starc
Mitchell Starc had very little experience when he toured India in 2013. But now, he has grown briskly to be the strike bowler of the Australian bowling attack. Any day, any format and in any situation – the Aussies can rely on the lanky pacer who bowls at over 145 kph consistently.
Starc did not feature in the IPL until 2014 and he withdrew himself from this year’s edition of the IPL. It is pretty clear that the Australian spearhead wants to stay fit in order to meet with the high demands of the national team.
Back in 2013, Starc featured only in two of the Test matches against India. The Australian think-tank preferred the fast bowling duo of James Pattinson and Peter Siddle ahead of Starc. In the two matches he played, he was unimpressive and took only two wickets in the three innings he bowled, and both wickets he took were in the first innings of the third Test.
However, Starc missed out on a century in the second innings of the same Test match at Mohali when he was dismissed on 99 by Ishant Sharma after he edged one to MS Dhoni.
However, this time around, Australian skipper Steven Smith will rely heavily on speedster Mitchell Starc to provide breakthroughs when the circumstances demand.
#3 Nathon Lyon
Nathon Lyon made his Test debut in 2011. He is the only Australian spinner who picks up wickets consistently and has fared well against all oppositions in recent times. Early on in his Test career, he encountered a few difficulties but he has now settled into the Australian Test side as a frontline spinner. He is now the most successful off-spinner in Cricket Australia’s history with 228 Test wickets to his name.
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Lyon was the highest wicket-taker in the Australian camp when they toured India in 2013. He bagged 15 wickets at a strike rate of 50.8. His ability to mix it up with flighted deliveries and quicker ones paid dividends in the 3 Test matches he featured.
In the fourth and final Test match at Delhi, he dismissed seven Indian batsmen for 94 runs and it still remains to be his best figures in an innings of a Test match.
#2 Steven Smith
Steven Smith made his Test debut in the year 2010 and was a lower-order leg-spinning all-rounder. In his first visit to India, he featured only in last two Test matches. In his first innings ever in India, he scored a brilliant 92 which included seven boundaries and a six but he could not repeat a similar knock in the next three innings.
Since 2013, Smith has enjoyed enormous success in his cricket career. He succeeded Michael Clarke as the Australian captain and over the years, he has transformed himself into one of the finest batsmen in the Australian batting unit. Smith is also great player of spin and displayed the same in the tour of Sri Lanka where he was Australia’s highest run-getter.
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Smith enjoyed a runs-filled Test series against Pakistan recently and also notched up a first-class hundred in the warm-up game against India A. Therefore, Australia will rely on him if they are to give any fight to the No.1 ranked side in the world.
#1 David Warner
David Warner is the talisman of Australian cricket, and the southpaw has been remarkable in all forms of the game since making his debut in 2009. Warner did not feature in a single first-class game before he made his debut.
He made his Test debut in 2011 and has 18 Test tons to his credit. In the 2012/13 tour of India, Warner was deemed a failure. He could score only 195 runs after featuring in all the 4 Test matches.
Warner scored one fifty in the tour and his highest score was just 71 and his average in the tour was an embarrassing 24.37. Since then, a lot of things have changed. Warner is now the vice-captain of the Australian side and is often in the news because of his match-winning knocks.
The Australian has developed into one of the most important players for his team in all formats of the game. The fiery left-hander will be looking forward to hammer the Indians in a series where no one has given the Aussies a chance.
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