There Is A Massive Home Ground Advantage For Australia: Shane Watson

Former Australia allrounder Shane Watson believes home ground advantage will augur well for Australia in their upcoming four-match Test series against India.

Australia and India are just a handful of days away from renewing their rivalry in the longest format of the game. But unlike the previous occasions, the hosts are not at their dominating best. Not only they have struggled in recent times, they are also missing two of their batting mainstays – David Warner and Steve Smith. Both the players are currently serving a 12-month ban for the ball-tampering scandal.

On the other hand, India have arrived in Australia as the world number one Test side. Barring the losses in South Africa and England, India have blown away almost every opposition it played against in the last two years or so. Not surprisingly, majority of the cricketing world has tipped India to win the series.

And Shane Watson also feels the same. However, the allrounder believes that home ground benefits continues to be decisive in Test cricket.  He said that the hosts would have a big advantage due to home conditions.

“There is a massive home ground advantage for Australia. They haven’t lost too many times in the history in Australia. So while there is no doubt this is India’s best chance to win in Australia, it’s still incredibly challenging to be able to win away,” Watson said to India Today.

Well, as far as the history is concerned, Australia is well on top. In previous 11 visits to Australia, India have never managed to win a series Down Under. In fact, they have managed to win just 5 of the 44 Tests they have played in Australia.

Watson further said that bowling with the kookaburra ball in Australia is a tough task for the visiting bowlers. However, he said that India have a good attack.

“Compared to South Africa, in Australia, depending upon the way wickets are prepared, it can get very very flat with the kookaburra ball not doing much after the first 10 overs with the new ball. It can be a challenge but India have got one of the strongest pace bowling lineups from a pace point of view. And some variety as well with Bumrah who provides a different angle and different speed. So it will be a good test for the Aussie batsmen,” Watson observed.

Well, India did get a taste of how tough it is to bowl in Australia after toiling hard in the warm-up game. Cricket Australia XI piled up 544, making India field for 151.1 overs.

Watson reckoned it will boil down to a battle between Australian bowlers vs Indian batsmen.

“There is no doubt it’s a big hole to fill with Smith and Warner missing but there is no doubt that we still have the quality to be able to fill those runs that we need to win. Our bowling attack is still very strong but so is India’s batting line up. Virat is going to play a big part and they have a lot of other incredible batsmen. So their batting stocks are pretty strong. So I think it’s going to be an awesome Test series to be able to watch,” said Shane Watson.

The first Test between the two teams is scheduled to take place at the Adelaide Oval, starting December 6.