HYDERABAD: Left Arm Spinner Axar Patel received praise from none other than Australian coach Andrew McDonald. Axar, who was brought in as a replacement for Ravindra Jadeja, had an impressive run and found himself at the top of the wicket with eight scalps to his name. He was head and shoulders above all the bowlers on both sides.
“Axar, in particular, had an outstanding streak. With Jaddu out, everyone thought it might become a bit of a weakness for India, but they found another one, which tends to happen,” said McDonald on Sunday evening.
Australia’s attack suffered at the hands of Indian batters and was a concern for the side heading into the World Cup. “Throughout the series the run rate was high, it was entertaining cricket from the start. The bat was dominating the ball so there was really nowhere for the bowling units to hide. , especially death. We’ve been working on some plans. We’ve seen good results with some of the plans we’ve implemented that might be able to move on to the World Cup,” he said.
He added that Australia will have reinforcements in the form of Mitchell Starc when they start defending their World Cup title on home soil next month. “The connection between here (India) and Australia might be a little bit different, a bit more rebound, different tactics. Mitchell Starc comes back into the picture being one of our best death bowlers. So , we think we’ll have reinforcements there.”
The Australian said bowlers are suffering because of batting skills. “The conversations are always going to be, can you get better at your death bowling? The answer to that question is yes. We encourage our guys to make good decisions and execute them. Sometimes the batter outplays you and we have seeing that with Hardik (Pandya) throughout the series. Suryakumar Yadav was outstanding today and he’s going to be dangerous in the World Cup, but he showed what he can do.” said McDonald.
Coming with some key players sidelined through injury, Australia were without a few of their World Cup-ready players. However, the coach believes the defending champions have enough depth in the squad. “It’s fortuitous that some of the lads have had the opportunity here. We’ve had a couple of injuries which we’re worried about ahead of a World Cup. You don’t like to see some of your basic players out of the lead squad, but we think like we have good options in depth.”
“It’s probably opportunistic the way he is (cameron green) come in first with obviously David Warner who is not there and some other players from our World Cup 15. And that’s all you can do, if you have the chance… Before you come here we thought he had the talent together to be able to be successful there, and he played some of the best bowlers in the world of cricket,” McDonald said, praising Green, who topped the batting charts on both sides with 118 points to his credit.
“Axar, in particular, had an outstanding streak. With Jaddu out, everyone thought it might become a bit of a weakness for India, but they found another one, which tends to happen,” said McDonald on Sunday evening.
Australia’s attack suffered at the hands of Indian batters and was a concern for the side heading into the World Cup. “Throughout the series the run rate was high, it was entertaining cricket from the start. The bat was dominating the ball so there was really nowhere for the bowling units to hide. , especially death. We’ve been working on some plans. We’ve seen good results with some of the plans we’ve implemented that might be able to move on to the World Cup,” he said.
He added that Australia will have reinforcements in the form of Mitchell Starc when they start defending their World Cup title on home soil next month. “The connection between here (India) and Australia might be a little bit different, a bit more rebound, different tactics. Mitchell Starc comes back into the picture being one of our best death bowlers. So , we think we’ll have reinforcements there.”
The Australian said bowlers are suffering because of batting skills. “The conversations are always going to be, can you get better at your death bowling? The answer to that question is yes. We encourage our guys to make good decisions and execute them. Sometimes the batter outplays you and we have seeing that with Hardik (Pandya) throughout the series. Suryakumar Yadav was outstanding today and he’s going to be dangerous in the World Cup, but he showed what he can do.” said McDonald.
Coming with some key players sidelined through injury, Australia were without a few of their World Cup-ready players. However, the coach believes the defending champions have enough depth in the squad. “It’s fortuitous that some of the lads have had the opportunity here. We’ve had a couple of injuries which we’re worried about ahead of a World Cup. You don’t like to see some of your basic players out of the lead squad, but we think like we have good options in depth.”
“It’s probably opportunistic the way he is (cameron green) come in first with obviously David Warner who is not there and some other players from our World Cup 15. And that’s all you can do, if you have the chance… Before you come here we thought he had the talent together to be able to be successful there, and he played some of the best bowlers in the world of cricket,” McDonald said, praising Green, who topped the batting charts on both sides with 118 points to his credit.