Australia spinning around spinners ahead of the India tour

Australia is looking forward to introducing more spin into their squad after the embarrassing series loss against Sri Lanka, which is their third consecutive series whitewash loss at the subcontinent. They have won just one Test match in the last decade in the sub-continent.

Australian coach Darren Lehmann admitted that it is not going to be easy to improve in Asian conditions between now and the 2017 trip for four Tests in India.

Australia in the subcontinent had mostly gone with the bowling combination of having two spinners and two seamers, in the Sri Lankan tour, even the second seamer Josh Hazlewood seemed ineffective as Nathan Lyon shared the new ball on few occasions with Mitchell Starc. Thereby, Lehmann feels that it’s time to think about the spin trio combination, which opens the door quite a few contenders in the country in the likes of Adam Zampa, Fawad Ahmed, Ashton Agar and Mitchell Swepson.

Thereby, Lehmann feels that it’s time to think about the spin trio combination, which opens the door quite a few contenders in the country in the likes of Adam Zampa, Fawad Ahmed, Ashton Agar and Mitchell Swepson. There has been a lot of speculations ahead of Sri Lanka series, that the young leg-spinner Adam Zampa should have been included in the Test squad. Zampa had a good season in the IPL and at the CPL.

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“The difference is we’ve got to change in the subcontinent. Results will say that with India, UAE and now Sri Lanka,” Lehmann said. “We’ve got to change the way we pick and shape up the squad for a subcontinent [tour]. We have to look at all different angles I suppose. The shape-up of the side, whether you need one quick, two quicks, three quicks, allrounders, and see how we play.”

“It certainly hasn’t worked the way we’ve played. We think we’ve had the right balance but our batters haven’t made enough runs. It’s pretty simple. When you look at [Sheffield] Shield cricket, it’s very hard to determine who’s going to be a good player of spin and not on Australian wickets. So for us somehow we’ve got to find a way.”

He also stated that the experience in IPL, won’t contribute much to the Australian Test squad. He also argued that the Test pitches had become more extreme for visiting teams as it turns from Day 1 of the Test match. However, he admitted that the SSC pitch for the third Test was the best of the series.

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“You always do that anyway,” Lehmann said. “We’re obviously reviewing every day and at the end of the game. That’s a process you always do regardless of the result, whether you win or lose. It is only a game, but still, that hurts. We should be reasonably embarrassed by our performance in this series and that’s OK. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not hiding the fact we didn’t play well enough and we’ve got to improve. That’s a simple fact. The guys will take that back and actually try to improve. And they’ve got to improve, simple.”