IND vs AUS: Everyone Thought Ravindra Jadeja's Absence Would Weaken India But Axar Patel Was Outstanding, Says Australia Coach Andrew McDonald

The withdrawal of Ravindra Jadeja from the T20 series was anticipated to harm India, but according to Australia coach Andrew McDonald, the hosts found a capable alternative in the “excellent” Axar Patel. 

Axar, a left-arm spinner who was brought in to replace injured Jadeja on a like-for-like basis, wowed everyone with his bowling and ended up with the most wickets in the three-match series. 

Axar Patel Had An Outstanding Series: Andrew McDonald

“Axar, in particular, had an outstanding series. With Jaddu out everyone thought that it might become a bit of a weakness for India, but they’ve found another one again, which tends to happen,” McDonald stated at the press conference held following the game in which India won the series. 

The Indian hitters thoroughly dismantled the Australian bowling attack, which included the speed pair of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. 

McDonald said when asked if it’s a worry going into the World Cup: “Across the series the run rate was high, it was entertaining cricket from the get-go. Bat dominated the ball, so there was really no place to hide for bowling units, in particular death. 

“We worked our way through some plans. We saw some good results with some of the plans that we implemented that might be able to transition to the World Cup.”

We’ll Get Reinforcements In Our Bowling Attack: Andrew McDonald

When Australia starts the defence of its World Cup championship at home the following month, Mitchell Starc will be there as reinforcements, according to Andrew McDonald.

“The connection between here (India) and Australia might be slightly different, a little bit more bounce, different tactics. Mitchell Starc comes back into the picture being one of our best death bowlers. So, we feel like we’ll get reinforcements there.”

Andrew McDonald believes that the batsmen’s talents have put the majority of the bowling attack “under the pump.” 

“The conversations always going to be can you get better at your death bowling? The answer to that is yes. 

“We encourage our guys to make good decisions and execute them. Sometimes the batter out-executes you and we’ve seen that with Hardik (Pandya) across the series. 

“Suryakumar Yadav was outstanding today and he’s gonna be dangerous in the World Cup but he showed what he can do.” Due to injury, a couple of Australia’s World Cup hopefuls were sidelined, but the head coach believes the reigning champions have enough depth to overcome the setback. 

“It’s fortuitous that some of the guys got the opportunity here. We got a couple of injuries which are concerning leading into a World Cup. You don’t like to see some of your mainstay players out of the team leading in but we feel as though we’ve got some good options in depth.”

Andrew McDonald Hails Cameron Green

David Warner was on vacation, so Cameron Green “embraced the task of opening” in his place. 

The all-rounder scored 118 runs, including two aggressive half-centuries that helped Australia get out to a fast start. 

“I’ve asked him to show great intent on top of the order and everything that we’re seeing so far shows that he’s doing that. 

“It’s probably opportunistic the way that he’s come into the opening position with obviously David Warner not being here and a couple of other players from our World Cup 15. 

“And that’s all you can do, given an opportunity… Before we came over here we thought he had the skill sets to be able to succeed there, and he’s taken on some of the best bowlers in world cricket.” 

Also Read: IND vs AUS: Feels Great To Do Well And Help India Win The Series – Player Of The Series Axar Patel