The agony of knowing their chances of regaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy on Indian soil were potentially overshadowed by a horrendous season of batting for Australia, but they were able to finish the series with strong support from their spin attack. Enabled what was termed the best tour to the country in a decade.
Australia knew how to come on the field in Ahmedabad Heading into the final day of the series their best hope was to survive and keep the margin at 2–1, something they achieved with ease travis head And marnus labuschagne On a surface that although it started to turn it didn’t do it nearly as quickly.
The second half of the series was a stark contrast to the first where limp batting in three of Australia’s four innings cost them, most dramatically when they lost 8 for 28 on the third morning. in Delhi Well placed on a difficult pitch.
“We were really hurt after that match in Delhi,” steven smith Said. “People were very upset with the way we went off our ways in that game, it was disappointing, but obviously at that point we knew there was still a lot to play for in the series and people really responded well and as a group we are proud the way we bounced back And played some good cricket in the last few Tests. You take away the craziness clock and things certainly could have been different.”
However, the performance of even in the opening defeat Todd Murphy (seven wickets debuted in nagpur) And Nathan Lyon (Five-wicket haul in Delhi) stood out and then paired up with the left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnman during his second Test at Indore to secure a famous victory.
india coach, Rahul DravidIt turned out that the quality of Australia’s spin attack was noted by the home side with some of their batsmen giving it the best ratings they had faced since Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar when they beat England 2–1 in 2012. Had won the series from- 13.
Dravid said, “Many times you see with foreign teams that they have a good spinner, but run away at the other end and you can control the game from the other end.” star sports, “But credit to the two young spinners, they kept that pressure on, [and] He took wickets. A lot of people … were full of praise for the quality of spin that he had to play which made the series that much sweeter.
“Some people were saying maybe they haven’t played few spinners of such quality or such spells in the last decade since Panesar and Swann. They have played individual spinners who have been brilliant over the last 10 ” Including someone like Nathan Lyon, but for the quality of the spin attack, probably since Panesar and Swann, this has been the best quality of spin that we have played in these conditions in the last 10 years.”
The collective average for Australia’s spinners is 26.28 second in that time periodbehind the combination of Lyon and Steve O’Keefe, who shared 38 wickets at 24.73 in 2016–17. The 2012–13 England team, dominated by Swann and Panesar, took 39 wickets at 28.61.
Smith, who took over the captaincy for the last two Tests when Pat Cummins returned home, praised the way Murphy and Kuhnmann, neither of whom were first-choice spinners for their states in Australia before this tour, handled the pressure Was.
“Making Test debut in India can be quite challenging at times and the way he came in and performed was fantastic,” he added. “The way he’s developed and learned to bowl from here on is fantastic. I thought Murphy, in the last game and in this Test match as well, how tight he kept it, bowling defensively was brilliant. “
Lyon finished second behind R Ashwin with 22 wickets in the series along with Ravindra Jadeja, with the India pair being named joint players of the series. After the third day’s play, Lyon said he felt he had bowled better in Ahmedabad than in Indore, where he claimed 11 wickets in the match, including eight in the second innings, and that Smith was supportive Which went a step further.
“I stood beside him in the slips for a very long time and the way the ball was coming out, the spin and the drop and everything he had on the ball on a surface that wasn’t offering a great deal, I told him about the game. In the end, probably the best I have seen you bowl,” he said. “For someone who has played 115-odd Tests to get better, I thought it was outstanding.”