Canberra, Oct 27: Australia head coach Andrew McDonald believes the upcoming T20I series against India will serve as a litmus test for the team’s revamped batting style, which has yielded success in recent months.
Under Mitchell Marsh, Australia have embraced a more aggressive batting philosophy following back-to-back group-stage exits in the last two T20 World Cups. The shift has paid dividends, with Australia winning series against West Indies, South Africa, and New Zealand – losing just once in their last 11 T20Is.
India are entering the five-match series as reigning T20 World Cup champions, and are coming into Australia with a squad featuring top-ranked T20I batter Abhishek Sharma and bowler Varun Chakaravarthy, as well as ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah.
“There has been a shift. We’re 11 games in now from the initial conversation. When we set out on this journey, we’d failed in a couple of World Cups previously, so we wanted to shift and stretch the boundaries on.”
“So yeah, we have been more aggressive, we’ve played people in different positions. Tim David has batted a little bit higher than previously. Our admission was that we haven’t been successful in a couple of campaigns. We’ve got to change things up. We’ve got to stretch ourselves.”
“Is it the style that can win a World Cup? We believe so. Will we have to pivot and nuance it slightly, depending on whether we’re in Colombo or Delhi or Kolkata? There’s no doubt about that.”
“You’re playing against India, so it’s a really good test on whether this style will hold up. They’re the number-one ranked team, I think we’re number two. We’re excited to test ourselves against the best,” added McDonald.(IANS)WWW
