Be aware of the Aussie quicks: Ian Chappell's advice to India ahead of Test series
Former Australia captain Ian Chappell had a word of caution of the upbeat Indian team, which is looking to take Australia down in their own backyard and script history.
With a depleted Aussie side and a good performance in the preceding three-match T20 series, India are going into the four-match Test rubber as favourites but Chappell feels that it is not going to be an easy task.
Australia's on-field behaviour has been another talking point leading up to the series and much has been said about their lack of intensity and sledge-games -- something the 'new' Australia side doesn't want to engage in.
But, Chappel feels that all this attitude change won't hamper the desire to win and the attitude required to go for the kill.
"With Australia looking to temper their on-field behaviour after the ball-tampering debacle, the Indians had better believe that while this may result in a reduction in verbals, there will be no let-up on the short-pitched deliveries, Chappell wrote in his column for ESPNCricinfo.
He went on to add that the home side might be devoid of three quality batsmen in David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft but they still have the bowlers to do the damage.
"Australia should not be underestimated: they have a top-class attack, headed by three excellent fast bowlers in Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Patrick Cummins. As a result of three suspensions, Australia will field a depleted batting line-up, which means their bowlers will be even more determined to limit the opposition's scoring," Chappell wrote.
So, what is the way to negate the threat that the fiery trio bring to the table? According to him, it is playing Rohit Sharma because his game is perfectly suited to the Australian pitches and he can help Virat Kohli in dealing with the short-pitched stuff that will be at offer.
"The Indian top three should be aware that the Australian pacemen will be seeking early wickets in order to get the redoubtable Virat Kohli in while the ball is still shiny. This leads to a selection conundrum. Do India bat the dogged Cheteshwar Pujara at three and hope he'll wear the quick bowlers down, or do they gamble on Rohit Sharma, who is technically well equipped to tackle the short-pitched stuff aggressively?
"Kohli showed on the last tour of Australia that he's extremely adept at dealing with short-pitched deliveries, but it would be of great benefit to provide him with an ally in this confrontation," said the 75-year-old.
He also weighed in on the selection conundrum relating to the combination of bowlers and Kuldeep Yadav's good show in the T20s has only added to the headache of having the right combination of bowlers.
And Chappell feels that the absence of Hardik Pandya only added to the problem.
"India's other selection conundrum is what to do with their spinners. Considering Australia's frailty against spin bowling, there's no doubt that in Adelaide and Sydney especially, India would love to play a pair of tweakers. They would probably also like one of them to be the wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav, but his choice is made more difficult by the absence of seam-bowling allrounder Hardik Pandya.
"The solutions to these head scratchers may become clearer after the warm-up match, but they shouldn't come at the expense of trying to win the contest," said the former captain.
