Peter Handscomb set to emulate Ajinkya Rahane's methods for success in India
What’s the story?
After a whirlwind year for the Australian cricket team, a year in which they scaled peaks that they have in the past, but plummeted to depths never seen before, they are set for a new challenge, perhaps one of their biggest challenges in recent years, as they tour India for 4 Tests in late February.
Hope is anew for the Aussies after a new look side with a bunch of fresh faces have helped to turn around the team’s fortunes.
One of the stars has been middle-order batsman Peter Handscomb, who on the back of 2 fifties and a century in his first 3 Tests can look forward to his first series on foreign shores for his country.
He knows it is not going to be easy, but also knows where he is going to look for inspiration.
“I’ve been doing a fair bit of work trying to emulate that, guys like (India top-order batsman) Ajinkya Rahane, who’s an amazing player of spin.” he said to cricket.com.au.
In case you didn’t know...
The 25-year-old brought joy to all of Victoria when he raised his bat after scoring a magnificent century against Pakistan in front of his home crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in December 2016.
To understand the importance of his century and what it meant to all Victorians, one must go some time back. Victoria has always been one of the greatest producers of cricketers amongst the Australian states, but over the years, has seen a stark decline in the number of Test cricketers, with youngsters preferring to focus on the shorter formats of the game.
The last Victorian, who was born and played for the state, to score a Test century for Australia was Brad Hodge back in 2005.
He’s had a steady progress through the ranks and has had a very impressive first-class career, where he has amassed over 4000 runs already.
The heart of the matter
Australian cricketers hate spin, apparently. They have absolutely struggled on their last few tours to Asia. When they travelled to Sri Lanka last year, a country they are traditionally dominant against, they were destroyed 3-0.
Their troubles will be compounded in India, with the hosts boasting of one of the strongest spin attacks in the world, spin-friendly pitches, and an intimidating atmosphere.
The last time Australia won a Test series in India was back in 2004-2005.
Handscomb intends to have a pitch specially prepared at the MCG that turns extra, a method previously used by Matthew Hayden, who perfected the sweep shots on purpose-designed spin tracks at Brisbane.
“I’ll probably try and get a wicket at the MCG that can turn, so I can get a little bit of practice there before heading over (to India). We actually did it once before we came up to the SCG in a Shield game, and it’s all about training hard so that when you go out into the middle, it’s easier than when you were training. It’s never easy out in the middle (on spin-friendly pitches), but it makes it a little bit better.”
What’s next?
Handscomb and Australia have already wrapped up the series against Pakistan, but they have an opportunity to whitewash their opponents when they play the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground beginning on the 3rd of January.
He will join up with his Melbourne Stars teammates for the rest of the Big Bash League, before taking a break and working on his game as he prepares for the Indian tour.
Sportskeeda’s take
Australia have a monumental task ahead of them if they have to take anything away when they visit India in February, as the Indians are on an incredible 18-match unbeaten streak with Virat Kohli at the helm.
While Peter Handscomb and others, like Matt Renshaw have shown that they have the mettle to make a seamless transition to Test cricket, the Indian challenge might be a little too early in their careers for them to really shine.