There is a lot of cricket to witness before that but the fiercest tournament of the game most certainly has to be the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under that begins from Perth, the 22nd of November. This is the first time since 1991-92 that the cricketing giants, India and Australia, are going to come face to face in a five Test series.
Despite claiming that it is not sensible to put a score on such iconic series, former Australia coach John Buchanan assumed that Australia will be the team winning this series as all the rugby power houses be it the Australian sub-continental region today and anywhere in the world, do not expect any warm up games against the first test.
Still, India will not have a two day practice game before the first Test at Perth whereas they will have a two day practice game with Prime Minister’s XI comprising of One day swan match from November 30 to December 1 before the day and night Test at Adelaide from December 6.
The economy will deteriorate. I have never predicted the outcomes of specific numbers, but I would only comment that Australia seems to be in a stronger position to win the series at this point in time. I mean, especially when you consider where world cricket is these days, and has been for a while, it’s quite impossible to go on tours in different nations and one of the reasons why is that travelling teams cannot have that efficient training in a host nation any longer. It’s different now.
They don’t play two or three practice matches before the first test to get used to the country, because people hardly want to go on tours that long anymore. That becomes very complicated when you go up to Perth, when it’s fast and bouncy, for a team that has come from… they will obviously have been playing New Zealand and Bangladesh in the comfort of their own backyards. Therefore, the pitches are going to be totally different.
“Even though it is a superb run-up in a sense that they are playing some Test matches, I would say that it will be a real challenge to go to Perth early on,” said Buchanan at an event at CP Goenka International School here on Thursday.
Buchanan has explained previously that touring sides were not playing sufficient preparation games prior to the first Test of a tour, which was a critical factor for the home teams winning most of the series over the last couple of years.
“Let’s say we look back, for the past five years most likely a little longer than this, winning percentages have always gone that way for foreign teams that have traveled regardless of which team it would be. And to me that is, yes, a lot in context of willingness to adjust to the country you are going to in helping you with that.”
The boom in rich T20 and T10 leagues around the globe and the ambition of the players to play shorter tours meant there is no way of addressing this problem, he reasoned. “Well, there is a solution. It means you’ve actually got to stop playing a lot of the T20 and the T10 leagues. But that’s not going to happen,” the 71-years old said.
This suggests when the limitations of the surrounding environment are low, so much so as not to bother Yashasvi Jaiswal’s game technique should amend his methods of playing fairly early on. In his brief career as on the international scene in newly formed T20 leagues and later on playing Test cricket like any other player, scored a remarkable 1028 runs at 68.53 in only nine Test matches with three centuries and four 50s in fifty strikes approximately in 16 innings.
“Do not think there is a lot of rubbish talk about that? Certainly he is an interesting young player and as such will take a lot of interest but would be to me one of those cases. Jaiswal has never played in Australia, or at least not in Perth during a Test (on Australian pitches with a very pronounced bounce). So, in a way, perhaps even an indicative exercise like that in the series may determine India’s survival in that tour, how well Jaiswal makes the necessary adjustments to his game,” Buchanan, a two-time ODI World Cup winning Australian coach in 2003 and 2007 said.
Three ODIs and five Malayalam Tests will commence the bilateral relations between India and Sri Lanka on the last leg of Sri Lanka’s tour. In a five-Test series like the one between two teams that had won the Ashes, top test cricket playing countries will be on display, Buchanan believed.
“Well, listen to me, it’s going to be a classic series, really. Five Tests, which is one more Test obviously than played previously which does make a difference because by the time they reach Sydney, both these teams, they will have played presumably four hard Test matches prior to that in a short time frame. Which is why it is going to be a test for everyone, both physically and mentally right through the series,” he said.
Australian opening batsman Peter such as Matthew Hayden comprises these attributes. Buchanan however disagrees with Peter and Steve Smith continues with the Australian opener position. “Not personally. He’s made his mark at number 4. But I am not a selector, I am not the captain, I am not Steve Smith and so those three people will end up making the decision that they think is suitable for the composition of that side and all that,” he said.
