Starc, Hazlewood will have to bowl incredibly well in India: Glenn McGrath

Former Australian pacer Glenn McGrath is in India at the moment. Staying in Chennai, the legendary pacer is the coaching director at the MRF Pace Foundation. The 46-year old Aussie recently spoke to Times of India on the various prospects of the Australia tour to India next month. The Australian team will battle out against India in four Test matches. Team India are on an invincible spree at home at the moment.

They recently drubbed England 0-4 in Tests. It was the spin bowling that choked the English batting line up. When asked if Australia will also face the same in the upcoming series, Glenn McGrath honestly admitted in positive. He cited the inability of Australian batters to play spin in India. He cited Matthew Hayden’s example as one of the few batsmen to have found success here.

“Yes, I do, especially with Australia’s history here where we have struggled against spin. I don’t think we have worked out how to play spin here. Sometimes we go too hard and aggressive or too defensive. I have said for a long time, a good example of how to bat in sub-continent conditions was Matthew Hayden. He learnt to play the sweep shot incredibly well and delivered in India. The guys who play the sweep shot well can play spin well,” quoted Glenn McGrath.

However, he maintained that the team need not pack the squad with spinners. Australia must play to their strengths. He believes that Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood will have to bowl very well for Australia to be successful here.

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“You need spinners over here. I believe the likes of Nathan Lyon and Stephen O’Keefe should be in the team. I think in the past whenever Australia toured here, the fast bowlers have done better than the spinners. You still have to play to your strengths. Someone like Mitchell Starc can be dangerous and Australia will need him to be on top of his game here. Josh Hazlewood too has been doing well. They both have to bowl incredibly well,” quoted the Aussie.

Australians have seen how the English team struggled in India. Glenn McGrath, too, is wary of the same fact. He was asked what the Australian team needs to learn from England’s mistakes. The former cricketer was quick to cite that they must play like England played the Rajkot Test. They must be able to bag 20 wickets.

“Play like they did in the first Test (in Rajkot) and not the last four. We have spoken a lot about bowling and playing spin but Indian team seems to be producing one batsman after another. They bat down to 8 now. It is one thing to score runs, but you must also be able to take 20 wickets to win a Test match,” quoted the former cricketer.

Lastly, he also gave his opinion on the captaincy change in India. Virat Kohli has replaced MS Dhoni as the captain of the team in all formats of the game. McGrath believes that it was bound to happen and was just a matter of time before it happened.

“It was just a matter of time before Kohli took over. He is the obvious choice. If the captain of Test team is playing ODIs and T20s, then I would prefer him to be the leader in all formats,” he conceded.