IND vs AUS: 'We're Preparing For That'- Australian Coach Andrew McDonald Fires Warning To Rohit Sharma And Co Before Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Australia National Cricket Team head coach Andrew McDonald has stated that tackling the “slide spin” from the spinners will be the biggest challenge for the Aussies in the upcoming Test series in India and the batters will have to find individual methods and techniques to counter those deliveries.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 between the top-class teams is set to be held in India across four different venues in February-March.

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The Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur will host the first Test from February 9 to 13, and the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi will host the second Test from February 17 to 21. The third Test will be played at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala from March 1 to 5 and the fourth Test will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad from March 9 to 13.

Team Australia have decided not to play any tour games in the lead-up to the marquee Test series, instead, they are training all by themselves.

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Andrew McDonald said that they are taking several things into consideration during the training sessions, including that the Indian spinners will bowl early overs.

“I think the new ball is the one that creates more of that slide and when the batters do get done on the inside … we’re preparing for that (during the preparatory camp in Bengaluru),” McDonald had said before the team’s departure for Bengaluru on Wednesday.

“That slide spin, we’ll expect the spinners to bowl early against our opening batters as well with the new ball so all that is taken care of in the training environment and (batting coach) Diva (Michael Di Venuto) does a fantastic job in preparing.

“The key to success there is to have a clear method and that will be individually based and depending on the conditions we’re confronted with,” McDonald was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday.

And it begins. Australia’s tour of India is underway #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/OU3VQ8zPcZ

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We’ll be trying to make sure the batters are clear on their method – Andrew McDonald

Andrew McDonald further said that they are trying to ensure that the batters have their clear methods as they will get different types of playing conditions in the Test series.

“We’ll be trying to make sure the batters are clear on their method,” said McDonald.

“You’re never going to get exactly the same as you’re going to get in a game, and that’s one of the real complexities around preparing for a cricket tour.”

Andrew McDonald further spoke about the real reason behind not playing tour games in the build-up to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023.

“We haven’t played a tour game for three years. It’s probably not something new to us, put it that way,” McDonald said.

“We value freshness at the back end of the tour. Something we’ve seen teams go there before and expend a lot of energy at the front end. We feel with the profile of this group, quite an experienced group, quite an experienced batting unit as well, who have been there before, I think 11 out of the squad have been there before.

“A significant chunk of the squad that’s been there before, so we feel that better places are leading in and then you never get guarantees over those practice game surfaces you get. Often, there’s no real connection between that practice game into the first Test match. We feel as though we can control the surfaces here,” he added.

“(We’ll) get a bit more control in Bangalore to replicate what we’re going to come up against and then we go into Nagpur fresh and hopefully it pays dividends at the back end.”

Also Read: IND vs AUS: Australia Prepare For India Test Series On Specially Prepared Spinning Pitches In Sydney, Confirms Andrew McDonald

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