Australia are going to select their best bowling attack and not be too swayed from the conditions presented in Nagpur, even if it means playing only 1 spinner and go in with an additional pacer.
The first of the four Tests of the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy will kick start on February 9 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium.
Speaking to reporters in their training camp in Alur near Bengaluru, skipper Pat Cummins said that it is not necessary that Australia will pick a second spinner just because of the expected spin-friendly conditions in Nagpur, and instead, the captain asserted, he’d want a bowling attack that will be capable of picking 20 wickets.
“I wouldn’t say it is a given, it’s very conditions dependent so particularly this first Test, once we get to Nagpur we’ll see,” Cummins said.
“I think sometimes talking about a couple of spinners you forget how good a lot of our fast bowlers have been in all conditions. Even some of the SCG wickets, there hasn’t been a lot in them for quick bowlers but the quick bowlers have found a way.
“We’ve got plenty of bowling options here – fingerspin, wristspin, left-arm, Starcy when he comes back – so we’ll obviously pick the bowlers we think can take 20 wickets, how we are going to split that up we aren’t 100% sure yet,” he added.
Australia have not won a Test series in India in 18 years
Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins are certain starters and Josh Hazlewood is also a shoo-in given Starc is ruled out of the Nagpur Test and Cameron Green is unlikely to bowl because of his finger injury.
This leaves Australia with option of playing either of the three other spinners in the squad – leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson, left-arm spinner Ashton Agar and off-spinner Todd Murphy – or going with Scott Boland as the third seamer with Green not allowed to bowl.
If Australia choose to go with a third seamer, they will still have spin options in the XI in the form of Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, and Steve Smith.
“It’s a chance. That’s something we’ll have to balance up if we want to go with two spinners. Do we want variation or just two offspinners? So there’s no reason why we can’t go that way. Travis Head is in the side as well and bowls really good offspin. We’ve got plenty of variety to choose from,” Cummins noted.
Australia Squad for India Tests:
Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey(wk), Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.
