India and Australia have produced some of the greatest cricketing spectacles, and the clashes between the two sides have been high-octane in recent years.
Last time when the Indian team toured Australia in the 2018-19 season, they won the ODI and Test match series but tied the T20I series. However, it was their Test win in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which hogged all the limelight.
The Indian team became the first Asian side to beat the Baggy Greens at their own turf and won the four-match series by a handsome margin of 2-1.
During the series, the depleted Australian batting lineup had no answers to the three-pronged Indian pace attack, featuring Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami.
Now, former England captain Michael Atherton has revealed the key to success for the Indian side, when they defend the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, later in December this year.
“What really should give India fans hope I think Down Under is the strength of the bowling attack. It’s very, very difficult to win in Australia without a strong seam bowling attack,” Atherton said during a chat show.
Further, Atherton pointed out towards the abundant reservoir of pace battery which the current Indian team boasts.
“One of the great things in the last few years from my perspective, I’ve seen this sea change really, in terms of the quality of the fast bowlers that you’ve produced. If I go back and think to when I played in India in 93, it was completely spin-based, you obviously had good fast bowlers as well, but I don’t think that number in-depth that you have now,” the cricketer-turned-commentator added.
Two Australians who would be itching to have a go at the Indian team would be premier batters Steve Smith and David Warner, who missed the action last time around, serving their ban period.
When Team India tours Australia later this year, the biggest thorn in their campaign would be taking the prized wicket of number one ranked Test batsman Smith.
“I’ll be very interested to see what India come up with (against Smith). He (Smith) is a highly unorthodox player, but I enjoy watching and for that reason. I think the game is a better game when you’ve got people who are very unusual in the way that they play,” Atherton concluded.
