India will not be able to match Australia’s pace attack due to Ishant Sharma’s absence and that could be the difference when the teams meet in December, said Jason Gillespie
“I am predicting Australia to edge out India in this series,” said the former Australia fast bowler in an interview. “I think home advantage is going to be a factor. Besides, it will be a blow with both Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar injured. Bumrah and Shami have been bowling well for India. But, India will miss Ishant for his experience in Australian conditions,” said Gillespie who has 259 wickets in Tests and 142 in ODIs.
Sharma, who has played 97 Tests, has not been named in India’s Test squad to Australia because he is recovering from an abdominal muscle tear that ruled him out of IPL13 where he was part of Delhi Capitals. Sharma’s injury is being monitored by the Indian board’s medical team but quarantine protocols might rule him out of the four-Test series beginning on December 17 even if he recovers.
Sharma, 32, has been to four Australian tours since his first as a 19-year-old in 2008 when he made a mark getting Ricky Ponting to hop with pace and bounce. He was a big contributor in India’s first Test series win in Australia in 2018-19 picking 11 wickets in 3 Tests at an average of 24.
“He has been bowling beautifully in the last few years. You only have to look at his results to show why he has performed so well,” said Gillespie. “He also brings a subtle difference to the bowling attack. It’s not often that a right-arm seam bowler comes wide of the crease and bowls inswingers to right hand batsmen and across left-handers. It’s not a common angle for batsmen to face. You normally have right-arm bowlers looking to get close to the stumps and look to swing it away from the right-handers and bowl it in to left-hander.”
Gillespie, who played 71 Tests and 97 ODIs, rated the Australian seam bowling trio very highly. “When I look at the Australian bowling line up: Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood – it is the best seam attack Australia has ever produced in the history of Test cricket. They make a wonderful combination. Obviously with Nathan Lyon, our best off- spinner, it is a pretty formidable line up and it’s going to be a real challenge for India in Australian conditions,” he said.
The Starc-Cummins-Hazlewood combine has accounted for 582 Test scalps between them. But the trio could not stop India from creating history in 2018-19 because Australia’s batting was weakened by the absence of Steve Smith and David Warner who had been banned from cricket. Both will be available for this tour.
“For the Indian seam attack, the real challenge is how quickly they can adapt to Australian conditions and get their length on delivery right. Sometimes, when teams come from the sub-continent, it takes a little while to find the correct length. The Australians do it year in, year out,” said Gillespie.
“I know Australian fast bowlers are going to bowl that fuller length, and challenge the front-foot defence of the Indian batsmen. With India having a powerful batting line-up, it’s going to be an exciting series. Everyone is looking forward to seeing these two giants do battle, in what has been a challenging year for everyone.”