CHENNAI: Never has an Australian team fared so badly in India like the current lot. Australia lost the first two Tests held at Nagpur and Delhi in a matter just six days. It’s clear that the grit and determination, something that was visible in the past, is missing. Pace legend Glenn McGrath, who is in the city at the MRF Pace Foundation to coach young fast bowlers along with M Senthilnathan in his first camp of the year, is certainly disappointed with the way the Aussies have performed so far.
“Yes, certainly disappointed with the way Australia played the first two games. I am sure they will put up a better performance in the remaining two Tests,” said McGrath, the second-highest wicket-taker for Australia in Tests with 563 wickets.
After the twin loss, Australia white-ball specialist Glenn Maxwell had said that the team had put up a strong fight. ‘’I think they’ve (Australia) showed a lot of fight. Bar that one session, I thought they were outstanding. It’s bloody difficult over there (India) — it’s not an easy place to play, it’s so foreign for us.’’
But like many former cricketers, McGrath does not agree with Maxwell’s views. ‘’I do not agree that Indian conditions are ‘foreign’ to us. Many of our players have toured India and the sub-continent before. Many have played in the IPL too. They (Australians) have a fair idea of what to expect when they tour India. Having said that, the pitches for the first two Tests were different from those that one got to play in the IPL.”
McGrath felt that the team is lacking a clear mindset and that has proven to be their undoing. ‘’I just think they have not settled on a game plan that they are confident with, a plan that they can go and execute. In the first Test, they were defensive and in the second, they were too aggressive. So we will see if they have learnt from the two matches and how they go about at Indore.”
The visiting batters struggled to cope with spinners, especially Ravindra Jadeja, who won the Man of the Match awards in both the Tests. R Ashwin was also equally a thorn for the batters and their tactics to employ sweep shots, especially in the second innings of the second Test, backfired completely. On tricky surfaces which aids spin, Indian legends like Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar, to name a few, used to play with the ‘V’ and counter the bowlers at will. McGrath felt the visiting batters could take a leaf out of their book.
‘’Ya, one can take cue from the India batters, particularly from the legends you mentioned and play like them. Indian batters have grown up on playing on spinning tracks, so it will not be a bad idea to judge how they play and do the same,’’ said the 53-year-old.
To add to their miseries, Australia will be without two experienced campaigners in Pat Cummins, the captain of the side, and opener David Warner in the upcoming Test in Indore. The Australian team will now rely on stand-in skipper Steve Smith to salvage some pride. McGrath is backing Smith to lead by example but is hopeful that the rest of batters can also lift their game.
‘’I am sure Steve Smith will lead from the front and do well. He has the capacity and the experience both as a batter and as a captain. I’m sure he has the mental toughness too to do the job. He knows the game very well. He has played plenty of Tests and has got an average of 60 plus.
That says he’s a quality player. But I think they’re relying too much on Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne at the moment. Travis Head has had a really good year as well. The whole batting line-up has to stand up,” said McGrath, who also lauded the women’s team for clinching the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa on Sunday.