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SL whitewash water under Aussies' bridge

Lessons from series sweep on dry Sri Lanka pitches have "soaked in" according to Australia's spin coach

In the eyes of Australia’s India-born spin bowling consultant Sridharan Sriram, the most significant factor for a team that was humiliated on their previous Asian odyssey is not so much the lessons they learned from Sri Lanka but the time they’ve had to absorb them.

It’s not unfair to infer that Australia’s abject approach to playing spin bowling in their 0-3 loss to the world’s then seventh-ranked Test nation last year was a contributing factor to the conditions they faced in Pune last week.

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The prevailing wisdom among rival teams was that Steve Smith’s men had simply no clue as to how they might combat world-class spinners on pitches that provided them ample succour.

And so the notion that a dry, crumbling wicket might play as much to the favour of the visitors as it would embolden the hosts was largely dismissed, even after Smith called correctly at the coin toss and seized the opportunity to bat on it when it was at its least worst.

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But the team that outperformed India’s renowned spin duo Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja with the ball also more than doubled India’s meagre efforts with the bat.

To emphatically suggest the obituaries penned about Australia’s hopes of mastering conditions that have proved so utterly unfathomable for more than a decade were, if not premature, then certainly under-researched.

Sriram, who was part of the touring party that arrived in Sri Lanka last July expected to make short work of an opponent that was embarking on a major revamp of their playing personnel, believes the change in results on Asian soil is the end result of multiple factors.

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"I think the defeat in Sri Lanka has given them time to really go back and think, six months, they've soaked in what happened, what they could have done differently, what they need to do to come to India and adapt,” Sriram said today as Australia prepared to head to Bengaluru for the second Test starting Saturday.

“A couple of changes, new players without the scars of disappointment, (opener Matthew) Renshaw and (batter Peter) Handscomb, they came in with no scar tissues.

“They came in with an open mind, they said we can do it India, we've got the game, we'll try different things. 

“The skipper (Smith) has really helped in a big way, he's driven all the learnings from the Sri Lankan Test series into the entire squad, and Darren (Lehmann, coach) has been fantastic.

“The preparation in Dubai leading up to this Test match, speaking about different things we need to do, rather than harping on what we could have done there (in Sri Lanka).

“It's done and dusted. 

“Just take the learnings out of it, and be prepared for what you need to do.”

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The fact that Australia have been able to prepare so comprehensively for this series, admittedly on the early evidence of one Test match win, belies the unrelenting nature of their schedule since those three Test defeats to Sri Lanka.

A series that was followed immediately by a month-long limited-overs series on the island, which rolled directly into another month of ODIs in South Africa, back-to-back home Test campaigns against the Proteas and Pakistan, ODI commitments (home and away) against New Zealand and white-ball matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The last named taking place while the Test squad was engaging in a week of intense training at Dubai prior to travelling to India, which is also the period that most players involved in the current Qantas Tour have identified as being invaluable.

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Certainly Sriram sees that as another fundamental point of difference between this series and the previous offshore Test venture where the squad initially convened in Colombo.

“The Australian batsmen were prepared this time,” Sriram said.

“They worked a lot on their defence, they worked a lot on their scoring options, different scoring options. 

“In India there’s no one way. 

“You’ve got to go there, assess the conditions, see what suits you on that day, according to your strength.

“Bangalore (Bengaluru) could be totally different, Ranchi (where the third Test is scheduled) could be totally different.

“What we’ve done well in this Test match, and what we can take away is that we’ve adapted on the go. 

“And that’s what I think we should look to do throughout the series.”

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The comparative success of Australia’s batting in Pune, where they scored more runs in the second innings than the first for the first time since the second Test of the landmark 2004 tour, might normally be a feather in the cap of batting coach, Graeme Hick, the former England Test batter.

But Sriram, who was a genuine spin-bowling all-rounder in his eight ODI appearances for India at the start of this century and who once opened for his countryside in partnership with Sachin Tendulkar, has also had some input.

And is grateful that Lehmann allows him the scope to do so.

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“I have a chat with everyone, it is not just the spinners,” Sriram said today.

“That is the freedom I get from my head coach, which is amazing, so I can chat to anyone if I feel there is something they should do.

“I go up to them and suggest and it is up to them if they implement it or not, some say ‘no’ some say ‘yes’ I am willing to try and prolong the conversation. 

“They have come to this level because they are very good, they have done something right in their career for them to have reached this level. 

“It's not about bombarding them with information, it is about speaking at the right time, just giving them little tidbits, seeing what space they are in with their mental state.

“These are the nuances of coaching that I have learnt more than the skill, it is about the soft skills and the communication, about when to say what, because they go through so much pressure, the expectations, especially when you come to a foreign country of your own people (at home).”

Test Squads


India (for first two Tests): Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandaran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Karun Nair, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Hardik Pandya.


Australia: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Ashton Agar, Jackson Bird, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Stephen O'Keefe, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade



Australia's schedule in India


Feb 23-27, First Test, Pune


Mar 4-8, Second Test, Bengaluru


Mar 16-20, Third Test, Ranchi


Mar 25-29, Fourth Test, Dharamsala