MUMBAI: Although there’s plenty of cricket before that, the blockbuster event of the sport is surely the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under, starting from November 22 in Perth. It’s the first time that cricket heavyweights India and Australia will clash in a five-Test series since 1991-92.
While he refused to predict the scoreline of that iconic series, former Australia coach John Buchanan tipped Australia as the favourites to win that series, especially as India, like most touring teams these days, hardly play any warm-up games against quality sides before the first Test.While they are not scheduled to play any practice matches before the first Test at Perth, India will play a two-day pink-ball match against the Prime Minister’s XI on November 30 and December 1 ahead of the day-night Test at Adelaide from December 6.
“I never give predictions on numbers, but I’d just say that I think that Australia’s favoured going into the series right at this stage. Particularly, when you look around world cricket these days, and it has been for some time, it’s very difficult to tour other countries, and one of the reasons for that is that travelling teams no longer have that preparation in a country. They don’t play two or three games prior to playing the first Test to adjust to a country, because nobody wants to tour for that long. That makes it very difficult when you go to Perth, when it’s fast and bouncy, for a side that’s coming from…they will have played Bangladesh and New Zealand at home obviously. So, the wickets are going to be completely different.
“Albeit it’s fantastic lead-in that they’re playing some Test cricket, but it’s going to be quite difficult to go to Perth to start with,” Buchanan said at an event at the CP Goenka International School here on Thursday.
Buchanan pointed out that touring sides were not playing enough practice matches before the first Test of a tour, and that played a big role in the home sides dominating shows in almost all major series in the past few years.
“If you were to look back over the last five years, possibly even longer than that, as sides have toured, their winning percentage, you would see them go that way, irrespective of which team. And to me that is very much a part of not spending time in the country, wherever you’re going, to adapt to what those conditions are.
The rapid growth of lucrative T20 and T10 leagues around the world, and the players’ desire to have shorter tours meant that there was no solution to this issue, he analysed. “Well, there is a solution. It means you’ve actually got to stop playing a lot of the T20 and the T10 leagues. But that’s not going to happen,” the 71-year-old said.
Buchanan felt that India’s fate in the series could be guided by how quickly their young and prolific opener Yashasvi Jaiswal adjusts to the pace and bounce of the Australian wickets. Taking Test cricket by storm, Jaiswal has cracked 1028 runs at 68.53 in just nine Tests (16 innings), scoring three hundreds and four fifties. “There’s a lot of talk about that, isn’t there? He’s an exciting young player, and certainly one to watch, but he would be to me one of those examples. He (Jaiswal) hasn’t played in Australia, or at least he hasn’t played in Perth in a Test match on a wicket that bounces. So, his ability to adjust his game to those conditions in some sense might be a barometer as to how India will go through the series,” Buchanan, who coached Australia to two ODI World Cup titles-in 2003 and 2007,said.
A five-Test long series, Buchanan felt, will test the endurance of both the teams.
“Look, it’s going to be a classic series, really. Five Tests, which is one more Test obviously than played previously, which does make a difference because by the time they reach Sydney, both teams, they will have played presumably four hard Test matches prior to that in a short period of time. So that’s going to test everybody physically and mentally right through the series,” he said.
Like Australian opening great Matthew Hayden, Buchanan too is not in favour of the prolific Steve Smith continuing as Australia’s opener. “Not personally. He’s made his mark at No 4. But I’m not a selector, and I’m not the captain, and I’m not Steve Smith and so those three people will end up making the decision that they think best fits the make-up of that side,” he said.
While he refused to predict the scoreline of that iconic series, former Australia coach John Buchanan tipped Australia as the favourites to win that series, especially as India, like most touring teams these days, hardly play any warm-up games against quality sides before the first Test.While they are not scheduled to play any practice matches before the first Test at Perth, India will play a two-day pink-ball match against the Prime Minister’s XI on November 30 and December 1 ahead of the day-night Test at Adelaide from December 6.
“I never give predictions on numbers, but I’d just say that I think that Australia’s favoured going into the series right at this stage. Particularly, when you look around world cricket these days, and it has been for some time, it’s very difficult to tour other countries, and one of the reasons for that is that travelling teams no longer have that preparation in a country. They don’t play two or three games prior to playing the first Test to adjust to a country, because nobody wants to tour for that long. That makes it very difficult when you go to Perth, when it’s fast and bouncy, for a side that’s coming from…they will have played Bangladesh and New Zealand at home obviously. So, the wickets are going to be completely different.
“Albeit it’s fantastic lead-in that they’re playing some Test cricket, but it’s going to be quite difficult to go to Perth to start with,” Buchanan said at an event at the CP Goenka International School here on Thursday.
Buchanan pointed out that touring sides were not playing enough practice matches before the first Test of a tour, and that played a big role in the home sides dominating shows in almost all major series in the past few years.
“If you were to look back over the last five years, possibly even longer than that, as sides have toured, their winning percentage, you would see them go that way, irrespective of which team. And to me that is very much a part of not spending time in the country, wherever you’re going, to adapt to what those conditions are.
The rapid growth of lucrative T20 and T10 leagues around the world, and the players’ desire to have shorter tours meant that there was no solution to this issue, he analysed. “Well, there is a solution. It means you’ve actually got to stop playing a lot of the T20 and the T10 leagues. But that’s not going to happen,” the 71-year-old said.
Buchanan felt that India’s fate in the series could be guided by how quickly their young and prolific opener Yashasvi Jaiswal adjusts to the pace and bounce of the Australian wickets. Taking Test cricket by storm, Jaiswal has cracked 1028 runs at 68.53 in just nine Tests (16 innings), scoring three hundreds and four fifties. “There’s a lot of talk about that, isn’t there? He’s an exciting young player, and certainly one to watch, but he would be to me one of those examples. He (Jaiswal) hasn’t played in Australia, or at least he hasn’t played in Perth in a Test match on a wicket that bounces. So, his ability to adjust his game to those conditions in some sense might be a barometer as to how India will go through the series,” Buchanan, who coached Australia to two ODI World Cup titles-in 2003 and 2007,said.
A five-Test long series, Buchanan felt, will test the endurance of both the teams.
“Look, it’s going to be a classic series, really. Five Tests, which is one more Test obviously than played previously, which does make a difference because by the time they reach Sydney, both teams, they will have played presumably four hard Test matches prior to that in a short period of time. So that’s going to test everybody physically and mentally right through the series,” he said.
Like Australian opening great Matthew Hayden, Buchanan too is not in favour of the prolific Steve Smith continuing as Australia’s opener. “Not personally. He’s made his mark at No 4. But I’m not a selector, and I’m not the captain, and I’m not Steve Smith and so those three people will end up making the decision that they think best fits the make-up of that side,” he said.
