Key battles to watch out for; Australia's tour of India, 2017

KEY BATTLES TO WATCH OUT FOR; AUSTRALIA’S TOUR OF INDIA, 2017

 
On the eve of the start of an extremely exciting series between two equally good sides, I've decided to add the segment 'Key Battles to watch out for'. With the kind of red hot form that most of the Indian players are in, it is going to be a grueling contest. The Aussies might be missing experience in their current side, but the typical fighting spirit that is always associated with Australia still exists. It is going to be a ‘drool worthy’ series, so here are a few individual battles to look out for;

1) Shaun Marsh vs. Ashwin

Being out of the spotlight for quite a while might just work in favor of the left hander. Shaun Marsh might be struggling when it comes to injuries, but he is as good as any other Aussie batsman on his day. The Indians would have done their homework on Marsh and would know exactly how good he is against the spinners. The century against India A must have done a lot of good to his confidence. Ashwin averages just a tad below 20 against left handers, so he would definitely pose as a threat to Marsh.

2) Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood vs. The Indian openers

  In the entire Indian batting line up if there is one player who will be short on confidence, it would be KL Rahul, definitely. Except the knock of 199 against England and a decent performance in a t20 against England, he has been terribly out of form against genuine swing and bounce. Certainly, Mitchell Starc and Hazlewood are not the kind of bowlers that you would want to bat against, especially when you aren’t in good nick. They are as good as it gets, be it any surface. Also, Vijay might be in terrific form, but he did struggle a bit against England in the Test series, especially early on against some vicious bouncers. The Indian openers will be at the receiving end of an absolutely superb display of fast bowling, that’s for sure.

3) Virat Kohli vs. Nathan Lyon

Virat Kohli in the kind of form he is in, is a massive wicket for any side, in any format. During a press conference, Shreyas Iyer said that Nathan Lyon was bowling quite quick through the air which made it quite difficult to attack him. England and New Zealand, both were guilty of flighting the ball too much since they didn’t possess any quality spinners who had experience. Australia, on the other hand, happen to have a bloke who has been around for more than 5 years, in the form of Nathan Lyon. He seems to have learnt a lot from the previous tour to India, which was back in 2013. If he can generate that pace and ‘zip’ through the air, it would be a massive challenge for the Indian batsmen to play him in the middle overs. The reason that I have mentioned Kohli’s name in particular; even though he is in superb form, he looks just a little bit uneasy at times against quality spin. If the Aussies can get him for low scores early on in the series, it could be massive for the outcome of the series.

4) Steven Smith vs Ravindra Jadeja

  Steven Smith, being one of the few right handers in the squad, will definitely be targeted by Jadeja. Last time around, Jadeja toyed around with Michael Clarke, who was one of the best players of spin at that point of time. Smith has the tendency to advance down the wicket very often against spinners. He will have to prevent doing that as much as possible, especially against Jadeja, who bowls at a very quick pace and skids the ball through the surface. Clarke bought about his own undoing by making the same mistake of advancing down the wicket to Jadeja, on a repeated basis (Jadeja got Clarke 5 out of 6 times in the series). A very interesting battle indeed.
5) Reverse Swing


As important as the spinners are in the sub-continent, the pace bowling ability with the old ball has proved to be quite a key factor as well. Although India won’t be having the services of Shami in the first two matches, Umesh Yadav has been able to extract reverse swing at good pace and bounce on a regular basis. Steven Smith would be hoping for something similar from his pacers as well. Sometimes when players like Kohli and Pujara are in their groove, the only way to get them is by reverse swinging the ball. The best of the best players have succumbed to quality reverse swing. While Hazlewood and Starc definitely have the ability, it is all about delivering on the big day, in the big series, against the big players.