Australia’s spinners can be successful in tricking their opponent on Indian soil. Former Australia coach Darren Lehmann believes that left-arm spinner Ashton Agar can prove to be a trump card in India and should be included in the team as a second spinner.
The 29-year-old Agar has played five Tests so far and went wicketless in his last Test against South Africa in Sydney, but Lehmann believes a finger-spinning bowler can be successful on Indian pitches.
The series of 4 Test matches between India and Australia will start in Nagpur from 9 February. When Australia won in Pune in 2017, Liman was the coach of the team. In this match, left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe played an important role in Australia’s victory by taking 12 wickets.
Lehmann told Australian Radio SENQ, “Being aware of the conditions there, I am advocating keeping finger spin bowlers in the team.”
Why Finger Spinner Beneficial?
Leeman said, ‘The finger spinner takes the support of the wind. Sometimes the ball spins and sometimes it doesn’t. But the leg-spinner sometimes spins too much, while the finger-spinner can bowl a few balls to the batsman and get him out LBW.
He said, ‘That’s why they should consider keeping the finger spinner. We did this in 2017 and Steve O’Keefe got Australia to win by dismissing the Indians on their soil, which was our last win there.
Lehmann said, ‘That’s why I’m advocating keeping a player like Agar in the team who can do a bit of batting and also play the role of second spinner,’ Off-spinner Nathan Lyon is Australia’s main spinner.
India-Australia Test Series –
First match – February 9-13, Nagpur
Second match – February 17-21, Delhi
Third match – March 1-5, Dharamshala
Fourth match – March 9-13, Ahmedabad
Australian Test squad for India tour
Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc) , Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson and David Warner.