With two months remaining before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy gets underway, Australia have already started preparations for what is expected to be a closely fought five-match Test series against India. The tour begins from November 23 and Australia have rested their three premier pacers – Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood – from the ongoing white-ball tour of UK to keep them fresh and fit for the Tests.
India have returned victorious from their previous two Test tours of Australia with a similar scoreline of 2-1 and have kept hold of BGT since 2014-15. World Test Champions Australia are itching to win the trophy back and Hazlewood has shed some light on their strategy.
“The strategy is probably more focused on the newer players we haven’t played much Test cricket against, like (Yashasvi) Jaiswal and even Shubman Gill, who we’ve only faced a few times,” Hazlewood told Star Sports.
“We’ve played against Virat (Kohli), Rohit (Sharma), and others for years, so we know what to do. The plan doesn’t really change that often. It’s about the basics; doing them well and for a long time,” he added.
Hazlewood says Australia usually get their basics right.
“We usually find that, 9 out of 10 times, Test cricket comes back to that Plan A. You adapt to conditions and change things throughout the day or innings, but most of the time, it’s about executing that plan,” he said.
India are currently hosting Bangladesh for two Tests before welcoming New Zealand for a three-Test series in October-November.
Their Australia Test tour kickstarts in Perth before a day-night contest in Adelaide followed by the third match in Brisbane with Melbourne and Sydney next. It will also be their last series of the ongoing WTC cycle, and they are aiming to secure a third straight final which will be held at Lord’s next year.
India are two-time runners-up at WTC, losing once each to New Zealand and Australia.
Comments
0 comment