What’s the story?
Kevin Pietersen gave a rather stringent piece of advice to the Australian team which will tour India later this month. Speaking to cricket.com.au he said "Learn to play spin very quick. If you can’t play spin, don’t even go.”
Having seen his home side England fail terribly to cope with the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Jayant Yadav, he expressed that you should be a good player of spin in order to have a fair chance of surviving and scoring in India.
In case you didn’t know...
Kevin Pietersen played a pivotal role in England’s 2-1 series victory in India in 2012. The English team of 2012 is the only team to offer resistance to the Indian attack and overcome the challenges to win the series. Skipper Alastair Cook exhibited his natural ability to play spin and was involved in lengthy partnerships with Kevin Pietersen in that series.
The heart of the matter
The Australian team tours India for four-match Test series beginning on 23rd of February in Pune. Pietersen, who spent time in Australia during the sixth edition of Big Bash explained that he was willing to help them. The former England skipper said that by going through a series of practice drills, batsmen can master their technique to deal with spin and score against it comfortably.
In the recently concluded England tour of India, the batsmen failed miserably against the Indian spinners. Ravichandran Ashwin perhaps made players like Ben Duckett look like an amateur. To ensure that such awkward scenarios do not repeat, KP asked the batsmen to be conscious about their feet movement and watchful in judging the line of the ball.
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He cited himself as an example for preparing to deal with spinning wickets through seaming practice pitches prior to the Big Bash League.
The Australian team of 2004-05 series is the last team from Downunder to clinch a series against India at home. The team of 2004 comprised of crafted players like Damien Martyn, Matthew Hayden and also Michael Clarke, who made his debut in the first test of the series at Bangalore.
The primary problem with touring teams has been their inability to adapt to Indian conditions. India has only lost two of their home Test series since 2004. At the moment, Indian team is on an 18 Test match unbeaten streak.
What’s next?
To counter India’s spin-friendly wickets, the Australian team management has already hired Sriram Sridharan and Monty Panesar as consultants. Stephen O’Keefe has had an injury-ridden 2016; he was withdrawn from this year’s BBL so that he could focus on his bowling with the red ball.
When Australia toured India in 2012, they were whitewashed 4-0. They will be hoping to avoid the recurrence of such a shambolic display.
Sportskeeda’s take
Indians have lately been masters in outplaying the opposition at home. Indian’s possess a resilient batting line up and the bowling unit is in fantastic form. The spinners will exploit the weaknesses of all the Australian counterparts.
Cricket Australia has taken counter-measures to avoid humiliation by providing ample preparation time. Steven Smith's men will know that their chances of winning are slim and will hopefully offer good resistance to the Indian spin trio.
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