"I was like, wow I need someone to teach me that" - Peter Handscomb recalls Ajinkya Rahane's approach against spin during IPL 2016

Australian middle-order batter Peter Handscomb has recalled his chat with Ajinkya Rahane during the 2016 IPL edition about approaching spin bowlers. The right-hander recollected about being in awe of Rahane's technique as it opened up scoring options.

Speaking to The Age, Handscomb remembered the veteran batter's shots through mid-wicket by clearing his front leg. The Victorian recalled how the approach allows him to score even against over-pitched deliveries.

Handscomb said:

"He was playing these shots off his back foot through midwicket which I thought were ridiculous. I was like, wow I need someone to teach me that. So we spoke about getting his front leg out of the way and being able to manipulate the ball from there. That helps your back foot become a scoring zone, and then if they overpitch, you can hopefully score off the front foot as well. Then all their good balls you just find a way to defend."

After scoring a classy 72 in the first innings of the Delhi Test against India, the Victorian fell for a duck in the second, admitting that he fell into India's trap.

"India personally outplayed me in that situation. They gave me my scoring gap but without the reward, so it was just going to be a single, but tempted me to hit the ball there. And I fell for that and tried to manipulate the ball there when, had that been my third ball of the first innings, I would have just tried to defend, because I was still trying to understand the pitch and what was going on.

"For me, it’s just about being stronger and starting again. I probably walked out there thinking ‘I’m still on 72 not out, I can just pick up where I left off’, and you can’t think like that."

Australia's first two Test losses in Nagpur and Delhi respectively have certainly put them under extreme pressure.

---

"We’ll definitely take the positives out of Delhi" - Peter Handscomb

Peter Handscomb. (Image Credits: Getty)

Despite a demoralizing defeat in Delhi, Handscomb stated that Australia will take confidence as they were ahead for most of the game. The 31-year-old claimed that he sees the loss as a learning experience, adding:

"The feeling around the group is one of trust in each other’s games, which is very hard to come by. We’ll definitely take the positives out of Delhi. We still had a first innings lead, we’d done well there, we’d started well in the second innings and then it all just happened really fast and we didn’t stop it at any stage.

"The challenge is if there’s a moment where we have lost two or three quick ones, it’s being able to stop the flow for a second and let us all just take a step back, have a breath and then continue on with the game, and hopefully stem the flow of wickets that way."

The third Test between India and Australia starts on March 1st in Indore.