Warner breaking Ashwin’s spell lies at the heart of Australia’s need for improvement

(Photo: Getty Images)

By Adam Collins

You always have to assume the other guy is going to make the putt. Applying the spirit of that golfing truism to the all-consuming

Border-Gavaskar series, Australia will know that India are only going to get better. The unknown?

If they can, too.

After coming so close to wrapping up this series in straight sets, the challenge evolves into now identifying where Australia’s improvement can be found in order to go with the hosts as this tour gets longer and harder. Thankfully for them, there are some obvious places to start.

Firstly, David Warner. He has a problem and it goes by the name Ravichandran Ashwin. Nine times the world’s best tweaker has defeated the Australian opener, more than any other bowler in Warner’s 62-Test career. He was flummoxed by a beauty from over the wicket in the first innings at Bangalore, and trapped in front sweeping from around the wicket second time around.

The latter dismissal was instructive for Warner isn’t a sweeper. Not in the conventional sense in any case. It suggests that Ashwin, by now, is surely in his head. That the vice-captain averages 37.5 away from home, some 11 runs fewer than in Australia, won’t be lost on him either. In Asia, that number drops further, down to 32.6.

There are days when Warner begins an innings in his native land and you can safely predict within a quarter hour that he is going to tally a century or more. Quickly conquering this ongoing Ashwin issue, and whatever causes him to be more error-prone when away, is integral to restoring his imposing aura.

Peter Handscomb looked the man most likely to steer the fourth innings towards success at Bangalore. Badly let down by those around him, his footwork to spin is only matched by Steve Smith in the Australian top order. Yet for all the positive signs, he’s still only managed starts between 16 and 24 across four innings.

His method cannot be faulted, looking terrific in the toughest conditions of the series to date with the cauldron of Chinnaswamy Stadium at full volume, and Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja having the ball on the proverbial string. In short: it’s time for a matchwinning hand from the Australian No.5. He has the tools to build it.

Then there’s the wildcard. With Mitchell Marsh on his way home with an ongoing shoulder complaint, a vacancy opens at No.6 and no fewer than four players have a claim to replace him. If it is a specialist bat they are after, Usman Khawaja will get the nod. If chasing an all-round option with the ball, Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Agar and Marsh’s replacement Marcus Stoinis all come into consideration.

Focusing on Stoinis and Maxwell, if either get going they will leave a significant scoreboard dent and in a hurry. The latter isn’t burdened by baggage, performing well on Australia A’s tour here in 2015. But will selectors be able to resist the temptation of the Biggest Show in town? In any event, it gives the chance to tinker with a place in the XI that hasn’t been contributing through Marsh so far. The definition of limited downside, unlimited upside.

Smith’s men have to catch everything. That was the experience in Pune, when they slid under the radar with limited expectations placed upon them. With that mindset in place, they didn’t drop a thing. In Bangalore, with the series for the taking in India’s second dig, had Cheteshwar Pujara been taken on either occasion when Nathan Lyon won his edge before reaching five, Australia win. Likewise Ajinkya Rahane, who Warner wasn’t able to pull down at leg-slip early. The two put on 118, the biggest and most defining stand of the match.

With the ball, the tourists will find it hard to improve. Lyon’s 8-50 on the opening day was as close to classic off-spin perfection as one can conceive, 97 per cent of his deliveries landing on a good length according to CricViz. Josh Hazlewood’s six second innings wickets were reward for his own outstanding consistency. Between times, Steve O’Keefe continues to starve the Indian line-up for oxygen, and Mitchell Starc’s shift with the second new ball resulted in two wickets in two balls, severing Karun Nair’s off-stump.

Their mission is maintaining what they have been able to achieve as a quartet as the tour gets tougher and pressure intensifies in this foreign and complicated land. It is about meeting those standards the further their Dubai training camp gets in the rear vision mirror, especially when the series is on the line. The bowlers continue to be the base from where all else grows in this team.

Above the shoulders, India raised their own game by playing angry, reaching for the smelling salts before finding a way to stop the tide that Australia had created through the back half of the Pune Test and the opening day at Bangalore. To an extent, they created a straw man in the process. Their anger isn’t with this visiting team, who compared to their predecessors are positively shy. They were attacking the Australia of old. And it worked.

There is no question Virat Kohli will maintain his line that Australia cheated the Indians by consulting the dressing room during DRS deliberations. Whether he can prove it is immaterial; the idea does wonders to turn up the volume yet further. To respond, Australia cannot fall into the trap of duking it out. Instead, they must shut it out. To follow the example of the youngest man in the side Matt Renshaw, who replied to a snarl with a smile.

India’s supremely talented side are just as formidable as they were before Australia arrived. Their experience is going to count for something; it already has in Bangalore with everything on the line for them. Then there’s Kohli, who hasn’t made a run. That simply can’t continue.

But Australia still have every right to maintain a quiet confidence in spite of this reality. Preparation for a series is best measured by how you are playing at the end rather than the start. How they now eek out every ounce of improvement will determine if they leave the country with a trophy in their carry-on baggage or not.

*This article originally featured in The Cricket Paper’s 10 March 2017 edition.