While Australia’s play against spin on the subcontinent has improved markedly since the debacles in Asia at the back end of Michael Clarke’s captaincy and the start of Smith’s reign,it remains their Achilles’ heel.
This week in Nagpur will be vital from the point of view of testing the players’ faith in their plans. For example,will Travis Head still have the courage to take the game on if he falls cheaply this week?
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The need to bat big in the first innings remains central to Australia’s plans on flat tracks but if it turns they will not allow themselves to be sitting ducks for Ravinchandran Ashwin,Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
“In the first innings it depends on what the surface is doing:if there’s not a lot of natural variation and spin then you need to make really big scores and take some time out of the game,get some traffic on the wicket and the game will speed up at the back end,” Smith said.
“If it is spinning from ball one then it’s about having plans in place to be proactive against the spinners. You have to be scoring runs because one will have your name on it if you sit there and defend. You have to be proactive. That’s the way we’re looking at it,hopefully we can do that really well.”