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SPORTS:
VIEWPOINT
Invincible?
Not quite
The
spinner who played the lead role in Australia's last Test series win in
India believes Steve Waugh's squad, while formidable, is far from unbeatable
By Ashley Mallett
 No
longer does India have a stranglehold on spin bowling. Australia holds
the whiphand with Shane Warne's leg-breaks complemented by Colin Miller's
unusual off-spin. Warne and Miller hold the key to Australia's chances
of winning a series in India for the first time since I toured as part
of Bill Lawry's team in 1969-70 when we won the five-Test series 3-1.
If they hope
to win this series, India must attack Warne. Sachin Tendulkar attacks
Warne and he usually wins. So does the West Indian, Brian Lara. Sit on
Warne and wait for a bad ball and you are waiting all day. The best way
to counter him is to knock the ball around. No spinner likes batsmen rotating
the strike. Far better to have a four hit off your first ball and then
have the same batsman facing you for the rest of the over, than a series
of ones in any one over. Indians and Pakistanis understand far better
than cricketers from other lands that spinners are best countered by the
strike-rotation method.
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Talking
Tactics
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Attack Warne and keep
rotating the strike
against him.
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Sluggish pitches are the way to counter Australian batting.
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A quality off-spinner will worry the touring batsmen.
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Pounce on Steve Waugh's early-innings spin jitters.
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Back the Indian batting to flower on home wickets.
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Miller will
be a good foil for Warne as he is a bit different as a bowler. He keeps
his off-breaks simple. There is little subtlety in his strategy. If he
bowls to any sort of plan it doesn't seem too apparent, but he has proved
effective. If Warne builds the pressure Miller could do well but if Warne
is collared, Miller could struggle. Australia likes the variety of a leg-spinner
and an off-spinner and with Anil Kumble sidelined, be sure India will
not outspin Australia.
Sluggish
pitches are the way to combat Australia's batsmen, even if the Indian
attack is mainly of the medium variety, for there are lots of Aussie batsmen,
including Mark Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Michael Slater, who like the
ball coming on to the bat. They will find the going tough if the wicket
is on the slow side. Steve Waugh is better equipped to bat on a sluggish
deck. There has been some suggestion that India has called for slow wickets,
although one wonders whether such talk is just part of the pre-series
hype. Langer is a gritty little fighter, but so often he appears uncertain
whether to attack or play the sheet anchor, as did David Boon so successfully
for so long. Ricky Ponting may also find the Indian wickets, if they are
on the slow side, a handful. Certainly the dashing opener, Matthew Hayden,
loves the ball coming on. He is more vulnerable to a good off-spinner,
who can bowl tightly and build pressure.
This Australian
side is in no way invincible. They are a good side, but the West Indies
side was dreadful this summer. That Australia faced this poor team and
thrashed them soundly sure helps the Aussies' confidence. However, as
a team the side did not have to fight. In the white-hot arena of Tests,
good cricket under pressure is vital for a side to be able to cope when
the chips are down. Australia has the track record to cope but India is
a huge psychological hurdle for them. The no-contest against the Windies
Down Under may well play into the Indians' hands.
India could
provide the steel in opposition to really take it to the Aussies. The
loss of Kumble will be significant for the Indian side and the make-up
of their final XI. Veteran left-arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju might bowl
serviceably and keep things pretty tight, but he is unlikely to run through
the Australian batting line-up. Quite frankly this Australian team could
play almost any left-armer or leg-spinner easily on any wicket anywhere.
They do, however, have a problem combating quality off-spin. I wonder
how the likes of Harbhajan Singh have developed, for only if he is now
in the top class will he worry Waugh's men.
The Indian
batting will be more than useful on any type of home wicket. Steve has
developed a slog-sweep to the spinners, but a good off-spinner would cover
the outfield hit and work on his weakness against the turning ball early
on. He is a real bat-pad chance but you've got to get him early. Once
he gets going he's tough to dislodge. This Test series is Steve's biggest
challenge as captain of the Test side. But the team is edgy about India.
It knows how tough it is to win there. The patient man wins in India.
That applies to sport and probably all other things in that crowded and
exciting land of such contrasting beauty and terror.
Steve's
batting and his leadership have revealed his tremendous powers of concentration
and an unrelenting urgency. To win in the subcontinent, an individual
has to produce a nice blend of talent and patience. India also provides
Warne with a golden opportunity to shrug the monkey off his back in that
part of the world. Last time Warne copped a hammering. He will be keen
to turn the tables on Tendulkar this time and that battle may just be
the contest which decides this three-Test series.
India cannot
win if the series is like 1969-a saga of spin, for Australia hold all
the spin ace cards. The likelihood of hard, fast and bouncy pitches is
unlikely for an Indian curator would surely look to slow the tracks and
help blunt the Aussie pacemen. Australia has the batting depth, the bowling
balance and that wonderful sense of great expectation that winning and
only winning can bring. A series win in India will be hard-fought and
well-earned.
Off-spinner
Ashley Mallett took 28 Test wickets for Australia during the 1969-70 tour
to India, on wickets meant to help India's spin merchants.
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