BENGALURU: Even on a challenging wicket in Pune, the Australians obviously coped far better than the famed Indian batting line-up.
The visitors are a talented bunch, no doubt, but it may just be getting that much easier for many of them who play in the Indian Premier League. Nearly two months of playing at various venues across the country may well have given them that little bit more experience.
Consider this. In the current Australian team, captain Steve Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh and Matthew Wade have all played in the IPL, and obviously seen a lot of the tracks here as batsmen. Only opener Matt Renshaw hasn’t featured in the IPL, but he scored 68 in the first innings in Pune, while Smith got a century in the second.
Warner didn’t fire in the first Test, but something could be up in Bengaluru. And that could very well change in the second Test. “A hundred matters. Everything that you do contributes to the team, whether it’s a half-century, 75 or 100-plus,” said Warner. “For Smudge (Smith), who hadn’t scored a hundred in the second innings, he made the most of it.
"If you get that bit of luck or you don’t give that chance, you’ve got to set yourself the task of scoring a big hundred. That’s what I always set out to do, no matter where I’m playing in the world,” he added.
Renshaw’s fifty, despite a stomach infection, is an indication that he is in for something big too. “He played fantastic. The way he played and adapted from coming off being sick and going back out there was credit to him,” Warner said of his opening partner.