Ahead of their first match against India in the World Cup 2023, the Australian skipper Pat Cummins is confident about facing the Indian spin attack.
Cummins’s strategy over India’s spin attack
Australia is scheduled to play its first match of the World Cup tournament against India on October 8. On this occasion, Aussie skipper Cummins said facing Indian spinners on Chepauk’s pitch would be the greatest challenge for his batters on Sunday meeting.
He thinks that India will be fielding with three spinners Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ravichandran Ashwin. But he is confident over their plan in batting as he hopes that past experiences will lend a hand during the match.
“They’re a good bowling line-up, especially in home conditions. So, they’re going to be challenging,” Cummins said in the pre-match press conference
“The good thing is that we’ve played them a lot. So, our batters will have their own plans. We’ve had success against them a few times. They’ve bowled well against us a few times as well,” said Cummins.
He also mentioned the IPL experience of Australian players which could help them in the upcoming clash against the hosts.
“It’s a ground (MA Chidambaram) we’ve played quite often. It feels like whenever we tour India, there seems to be a game here. A few of the guys have played for CSK as well, or you know, a fair bit here for IPL. So, it may serve us well,” said Cummins.
“Yeah, Davey, we’ll see if he bats right-handed or left-handed. Yeah, he’s probably better left-handed, I reckon, but we’ll see how he goes,” said Cummins.
He did not rule out David Warner’s right-hand batting against Ashwin in the second ODI of Australia’s tour of India 2023.
“We’ve seen Max, he’s a front-line spin bowler. In the 2015 World Cup, he was the sole spinner in basically every single match. I thought he bowed really well in that third ODI against India. So, yeah, we’ve got 20 overs of spin out there if we need it.
“He’s got an amazing knack of if he misses out with the bat, he contributes with the ball and vice-versa. No doubt, expecting a big tournament from Maxi,” Cummins added.
“In the home conditions, you’d imagine, they’re probably tournament favorites. So yeah, if we win tomorrow that’s awesome, if not, well, we know where we stand, and maybe we need to change a few things. It should be a cracker,” Cummins concluded.
With the high anticipation for India’s first match among cricket fans, the match will kickstart at 2:00 PM IST on MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.
