IND vs AUS: 'I Didn't Face Him In Test Cricket'- Shane Watson Believes Axar Patel Will Be A Bigger Challenge For The Australians Than Ravindra Jadeja

India are all set to face Australia in the all-important Border Gavaskar Test series starting this Thursday as the two sides lock horns in the VCA Stadium, Nagpur. Both sides have a solid batting order but it seems like the spinners from both sides will decide where the momentum shifts, with how tracks behave when it comes to the pitches in India.

Former Australian star Shane Watson who is no stranger to the sub-continent conditions after being a regular feature in the Indian Premier League since its inauguration touched down on the upcoming Test series between India and Australia and added that Indian spinner Axar Patel could emerge as the biggest threat for the visitors in the series.

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“Axar’s angle is what makes him really hard to line up, I didn’t face him in Test cricket but I always found him really difficult to play even in T20 cricket because of his release point. He’s not low round arm, but he’s round arm and he bowls from quite wide on the crease, and with the angle that the ball comes in I was never able to really line it up.”

“Axar is at the stumps all the time. It’s going to be pretty challenging. He’s a fair bit taller and his release point is still pretty high. But you don’t feel like his bounce is a threat as much because he does get balls to skid through.”

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Axar Patel has done well when it comes to red-ball cricket in his career so far, the spinner is close to the 50-wicket mark already scalping 47 wickets to his name in 8 appearances for the national side. While the bowler will now face competition from returning star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja when it comes to earning a place in the playing XI, India could decide to field both Jadeja and Axar Patel at the same time.

India will look to get an early win in the series to establish momentum in the series and thus could go with three spinners in the opening contest, the team has a vast array to pick from and with both Jadeja and Axar in the mix, we could see either Ravichandran Ashwin or Kuldeep Yadav miss out on a spot in the playing XI.

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Also Read: IND VS AUS – ‘ONE BAD SESSION FROM HIM AND AUSTRALIA WILL LOSE’- DINESH KARTHIK ISSUES A STERN WARNING TO NATHAN LYON BEFORE BORDER GAVASKAR SERIES