Left-arm spinner Axar, who was brought on as a replacement for the injured Jadeja, impressed everyone with his bowling, finishing as the top wicket taker in the three-game series.
“Axar, in particular, produced an exceptional series. With Jaddu out, everyone thought it might become a bit of a weakness for India, but they found another one, which tends to happen,” McDonald said at the press conference after. -game after India won the series.
Australia’s bowling attack, comprising the pace duo of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, were taken to cleaners by the Indian batters.
Asked if it was a concern ahead of the World Cup, McDonald said: “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 no place to hide for bowling units, especially death.
“We worked our way through some shots. We’ve seen some good results with some of the plans we’ve put in place that might be able to progress to the World Cup. »
McDonald added that Australia will have reinforcements in the form of Mitchell Starc when they begin their World Cup title defense 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 will have reinforcements there.
McDonald feels that most of the bowling offense is “under the pump” due to batting skill.
“The conversations are always going to be, can you get better at your death bowling? The answer is yes.
“We encourage our guys to make good decisions and execute them. Sometimes the hitter runs you and we’ve seen that with Hardik (Pandya) through 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.”
Australia were without a few of their World Cup players due to injury, but the head coach believes the defending champions have enough depth to overcome the situation.
“It’s fortuitous that some of the lads have had the opportunity here. We’ve had a few injuries which are concerning ahead of a World Cup. You don’t like to see some of your main players out of the lead team, but we feel like good that we have good in-depth options.
In the absence of David Warner, who rested, Cameron Green “took up the challenge of the opening”.
The all-rounder amassed 118 runs, including two belligerent half-centuries to give Australia strong starts.
“I asked him to show great intention in addition to the command and everything we see so far shows that he does.
“It’s probably opportunistic the way he’s come into the opening position with obviously David Warner not there and a few other players from our World Cup 15.
“And that’s all you can do, if you get the chance…Before coming here, we thought he had the skills to succeed there, and he competed against some of the best bowlers of the cricketing world.”