Perth: Australian opener David Warner said on Friday that he fears about the future of Indian cricket once batting greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who are in the fag end of their career, retire.
He said the challenge for India, who are on a six-away Test-losing streak, is to adapt to foreign conditions quickly.
“In my mind I think they are bowled over already. The challenge I see for them is that they have got to work out how they can play outside of India,” said Warner, who remained unbeaten on 104 as Australia trailed by 12 runs at stumps.
“We see when they come out here everyone talks about the bouncy wickets and how are they going to approach it. I don’t know when (Sachin) Tendulkar and (Rahul) Dravid retire in a couple of years where Indian cricket will be at. Are the youngsters coming through? They have to find way, come here and work hard and do well on green wickets,” he added.
Warner said India, who were put in by Australian captain Michael Clarke, fell into their by fishing outside the off-stump.
“We threw the bait and all we had to do was wait. They kept fishing outside the off-stump and made it very easy for us. We try to bowl on 5th-6th stump and they don’t like leaving the ball, they like hitting as many balls as possible so they are fishing and nicking it and that’s what we have been doing,” said Warner, who hit his ton in 69 balls.
“I don’t know whether it’s going to be 4-0 or 3-0–for the moment we want to get this Test out of the way,” he said.
The diminutive opener said he was lacking self-confidence ahead of the match but tips from coach Micky Arthur and batting coach Justin Langer helped him to approach the game.
“With the crowd behind you, you are always trying to impress them. I’ve been working with Mickey (Arthur) and JL (Justin Langer) on how to approach my game. I think I was just lacking in self-confidence a little bit but just then I showed the aggression that I normally play,” he said. (IANS)