Sept. 30: The Indian batsmen’s weakness against back-of-length balls aimed at the ribcage has been exploited it to the hilt by all teams, and given the pace-heavy make-up of Australia’s attack consisting of five seamers and two spinners, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what the tourists have in mind.
Aussie pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson had already announced his intentions of testing the prolific Indian batting few days back. But India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said they had a counter-strategy ready.
“The solution is simple: If we can’t hook or pull balls, we can always leave them,” Dhoni said on the eve of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy beginning at the PCA Stadium here on Friday.
Bounce isn’t expected to be exaggerated, though with curator Daljit Singh expecting a slower track than usual. Dhoni said the combination of heavy rains a week ago and strong sunshine in the past few days has made the track difficult to judge. “It looks that when the pacers will bowl, the ball might just skid on to the batsman,” he assessed. “But it’s tough to say for sure right now. It’s still a bit damp and still a bit green. This could change tomorrow.”
Dhoni reckoned that more than the pitch or the rankings, the result would depend on who wins the most sessions in Test. “Test cricket is about doing well in sessions. The team that wins more sessions in the last couple of days when the ball turns and bounces and there is reverse swing... that will be the deciding factor,” Dhoni said. “They are a competitive unit. We haven’t formulated any specific strategies against them this time. We’ll focus on basics.”