Mumbai: Australian speedster Kane Richardson says coach Andrew McDonald “camped out” at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday night to check on dew as his players prepared to practice with wet balls.
“Andrew McDonald camped out here last night to try and see what time the dew came in. Who knows, everyone is guessing. I think everyone is prepared,” Richardson said.
“We’re going to train today with some wet balls so we can practice that. We’ll just wait and see on game day. It’s nothing new, we have dew back home as well.” He said the Virat Kohli-led Indians were the favourites at home, calling his team the underdogs for the three-match ODI series, beginning here on Tuesday. The second ODI will be played in Rajkot on January 17 and the third in Bengaluru on January 19.
“I think the home team is always favourite. I think on the back of last year, I think Finchy (Aaron Finch) has said no team has ever won here back to back. It’s going to be so hard,” Richardson said.
“India in India is always the biggest challenge and after what happened last year they will be ready for it. Confidence is up but the home team is always favourite. We are the underdogs,” he said ahead of a practice session. Last year, Australia had made a spectacular comeback to record a 3-2 win in the limited overs series in India. The 28-year-old pacer, who has played 22 ODIs, also said playing in India, where the grounds are smaller, is the biggest challenge.
“It’s the biggest challenge in white-ball cricket, coming over here and playing against India on the surfaces over here. It’s a lot different than Australia.
The ground sizes are a lot smaller than Australia, (and) mis-hits can often go for six. Australia are touring India with a four-pronged pace attack comprising Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, apart from Richardson. (PTI)
