Sydney: Former Australia pacer Stuart Clark feels the advantage India have going into Thursday’s semi-final is that they have “world class” off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in their ranks with the Michael Clarke-led side lacking a quality spinner.
“I think one place where India has advantage over Australia in this game is presence of Ravi Ashwin in their side. He is a world-class bowler and Australia, particularly don’t have a world-class spinner. Conversely, Australia will have guys who could be a bit quicker than their Indian counterparts,” Clark, who played 24 Tests and 39 ODIs for Australia told PTI during an interaction at the SCG, here today.
The 39-year-old, who had a dream Test debut for the Baggy Greens against South Africa, back in 2006, feels that in hindsight it might seem that Australia could have picked a specialist spinner.
“You can look at it in hindsight but they have picked their best 15. One has to understand that Australia do not have a frontline ODI spinner. Nathan Lyon has been a good Test spinner but has had very limited opportunities in one dayers,” said Clark, who made his Test debut at the age of 30.
Clark, who had played his first-class cricket in Australia for New South Wales, possesses a good knowledge about the nature of the SCG wicket.
“It has more bounce than it used to be earlier with a lot more life now. No matter which team wins the toss, it should put up a big score,” he pointed out. (PTI)
