Former Australia coach explains how India can win another Test series Down Under: 'If India can...'

Former Australia coach John Buchanan feels India can complete a hat-trick of Test series wins in Australia when the Border-Gavaskar Trophy starts in November, but the Rohit Sharma-led side will need its batters to deliver against Aussies pacers in testing conditions.

The five-match Test series starts in Perth from 22 November

“Australia (has), since losing to India in the last series, the pace bowling attack with (off-spinner Nathan) Lyon, backed up now by Cameron Green or Mitch Marsh, is just a really, really powerful bowling lineup,” Buchanan told PTI after the launch of ‘Ready Steady Go Kids’ multi-sport program for the CP Goenka International School.

“India’s top order, (Yashasvi) Jaiswal, (Rohit) Sharma himself, (Virat) Kohli, possibly Iyer… they’ve got to bat really well to establish totals and then the likes of (Jasprit) Bumrah, (Mohammed) Shami, (Mohammed) Siraj will come into their own,” he said.

Bat for long periods

Buchanan added that considering Australia’s all-round bowling attack, Indian batters will need to bat for long periods to out-bat their opponents.

“Why Australia plays well at home is they do bat well, they understand their conditions, but that lineup of (Pat) Cummins, (Mitchell) Starc, (Josh) Hazlewood, backed up by Lyon, is just one of the all-time best all-round attacks that world cricket has seen,” he said.

“Albeit that, Starc is (nearly) 35, Hazlewood is 33, and Cummins is 31 — it’s a five-Test series — so if India can not only bat well, but bat for long periods of time, then it will test the physical capacities of that Australian bowling attack and therein potentially lies a little bit of a key to how India can look at winning the series,” he said.

No psychological advantage for India

The former coach, under whom Australia enjoyed a near-invincible record, said that India won’t enjoy any psychological advantage from the victories in Australia on the previous two tours as players like Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are not expected to tour Down Under this time around.

“The previous series that India won — important from both, Indian perspective and an Australian perspective — a little bit of the mind games will go into the pre-series,” he said.

“But for all that, those games have passed, those players are gone and the current players we have both in the Australian side and the Indian side, they’re at a stage of their careers where they all want to perform.”

“I looked at the ages and India has got some aging players in that side notably Rohit who’s 37 and Kohli is 35, (Ravichandran) Ashwin, if he tours, he’s 37 and you look at the Australian side, there’s only one or two players who are under 30.

“It’ll be very much a battle again between the very good pace bowling attacks of both sides and how well the top order players of both sides can deal with the ball that will bounce, seam and probably swing a little bit more in the day-night game in Adelaide,” he said.

Australia are the favourites

Buchanan, however, did not shy away from saying that Australia are the favourites at this moment as India will have very little preparation going into the first match.

“Australia is favourite going into the series right at this stage. When you look around world cricket these days — and it has been (the case) for some time — it’s very difficult to tour other countries,” he told reporters later.

“(The) travelling teams no longer have that preparation in a country. They don’t play two or three games prior to playing the first Test match to adjust to a country, because nobody wants to tour for that long.

“That makes it very difficult when you go to Perth, when it’s fast and bouncy, for a side that’s coming from, they will have played Bangladesh (and New Zealand) obviously, but Bangladesh at home isn’t it?

“The wickets are going to be completely different, albeit it’s fantastic lead-in that they’re playing some Test cricket, but it’s going to be quite difficult to go to Perth to start with,” he said.

India are scheduled to play a two-day pink-ball match against the Prime Minister’s XI on November 30 and December 1 before of the day-night Test.

Buchanan doesn’t want Steve Smith to continue as Australia’s opener.

“Not personally. He’s made his mark at No 4. But I’m not a selector, and I’m not the captain, and I’m not Steve Smith and so those three people will end up making the decision that they think best fits the make-up of that side,” he said.