Renshaw a key to changed India fortunes

For all the talk of subcontinent specialists and the necessity to employ players with proven results in Asian conditions, Steve Smith credits a sizeable portion of his team’s drastically improved form in India to a 20-year-old making his first visit here.

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As the Australians prepare for the final Test of a campaign that has already exceeded expectation and might yet deliver an unimagined success, Smith hailed the contribution of greenhorn opener Matthew Renshaw, who turns 21 during this Test.

The young left-hander, who was elevated to Test cricket just four months ago as Australia radically reshaped their struggling XI, has been his team’s best-performed batter behind Smith in the first three Tests of this series.

In six innings, he has scored 233 runs at an average of 37.16, an aggregate headed only by Smith (371), India’s batting mainstay Cheteshwar Pujara (348) and his rival opener KL Rahul (282).

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By doing so, Renshaw has not only repaid the faith shown in his unconventional game by selectors who foresaw his ability and temperament to prosper at the highest level, in any environment.

He has also won huge admiration from his skipper who believes Renshaw – who had not set foot in India prior to the Qantas Tour beginning and had about as much experience with Indian cuisine – has made a significant impact on the squad off the field as well as being their most productive opener.

“I’ve been really impressed with Renshaw, for a guy who’s never been here before ,” Smith said on the eve of the fourth Test at Dharamsala that will decide the outcome of the series currently level at 1-1.

“It’s almost a different game (in India) when you get out to the middle and you see guys around the bat and a crusty wicket, things like that.

“And that can get to players, players who have played for a long period of time.

“For a guy that’s only played a handful of Tests, to go out there and just play his game and back what he’s worked on over the last few weeks has been amazing.

“I think a lot of the guys, the more senior players, have taken a bit out of the way he’s done things having only been a youngster and not been here before.”

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Smith’s men head into tomorrow’s final Test, which itself heralds the imminent arrival of a lengthy break for all players other than those involved in the upcoming Indian Premier League, knowing there is far more than the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the taking.

To have arrived in India, where even in their dominant pomp Australia managed only one series win followed by a cascade of ever-more-demoralising losses, with a squad rated by some former India players as the worst to wear the Baggy Green Cap on the subcontinent, this campaign has proved a revelation.

To take the opening Test by a huge 333-run margin was the stuff of fantasy, and to have pushed the world’s top-ranked Test team – undefeated in a series at home since 2012 – proved that Pune result was much more than an aberration against a tired and possibly complacent rival nearing the end of an epic Test season.

If that is then converted to a series win at Dharamsala, where if anything the grass-tinged pitch looked even greener a day out from the fourth Test starting, then this will long be remembered as a watershed tour.

Much like the 1989 Ashes victory in the UK, similarly described as the worst Australia team to tour England which paved the way for an epoch in which Australia were rarely challenged.

At home and away, in the Test and limited-overs format.

“It’s right up there with the very best achievements by any team, because (winning in India) has been the holy grail of Australian cricket,” Allan Border, captain of that 1989 touring party, told Fox Sports.

“It would be unbelievable.”

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There is a genuine feeling within the group that they might never again be presented with such a gilt-edged opportunity to win a series in India, given the conditions they face and the fact India’s inspirational skipper Virat Kohli is in serious doubt due to a shoulder injury.

But regardless of the outcome at Dharamsala, Smith believes that his young team that was forged in the fire of a forgettable start to the last home summer has taken some giant steps and built genuine momentum.

“We all know that this is one of the toughest places to come to play as an Australian team,” Smith said today.

“Regardless of what happens in this last Test match, I think the way we’ve played has been a credit to each and every individual here.

“We’ve played some very good cricket.

“We probably did a couple of things wrong in Bangalore (in the second Test) where we could have wrapped up the series or had a two-nil lead, but the cricket we’ve played has been really good.”

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And in addition to the fresh perspective and new ideas brought by Renshaw and others who have joined the set-up in the recent past, Smith again identified the week-long pre-tour training camp in Dubai as crucial to the results.

Which have been an almost unrecognisable improvement on the efforts in Sri Lanka last year, where the Australians were clueless against the home team’s spin bowling and succumbed 0-3 in the three-match series.

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“I’ve got to pay a lot of credit to what we did before in Dubai,” Smith said today when asked what was the single biggest difference between this squad and others to which he had belonged on failed tours to Asia.

“It was fantastic, the week or two we had there.

“Guys developed plans and we could control conditions and get the ball spinning and have different sort of scenarios, centre wickets and things like that.

“Where guys could develop good plans and they’ve been able to implement those out in the middle for long periods of time.

“If you look at past sides that have come here recently, that day-five result we had (in Ranchi) where we were able to play out the draw, that (scenario) has just ended pretty quickly for us on a few occasions where we’ve just rolled over.

“Having the fight and willingness to work hard to get the results we’re after, it’s been great from the boys.”

Test Squads

India (for fourth Test): Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandaran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Karun Nair, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Shreyas Iyer

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

Australia's schedule in India

Feb 23-27, First Test, Pune – Australia won by 333 runs.

Mar 4-8, Second Test, Bengaluru – India won by 75 runs.

Mar 16-20, Third Test, Ranchi – match drawn.

Mar 25-29, Fourth Test, Dharamsala