Australia, who tour India starts later in February, have a sketchy recent record in South Asian conditions.
“If you can’t play spin, don’t even go,” is what Kevin Pietersen had to say to the Australian team that will be travelling to India later in February. Australia will tour India for a four match Test series starting February 23.
“When you get there (India) you’ve got to practice it, and you can actually practice it here – I can do spinning drills in Australia, I did them … on a South African wicket to make sure that my feet were going and picking length,” Kevin Pietersen told cricket.com.au, “You can, you don’t need to be on a spinning wicket to play spin properly or practice spin, you can be on any type of wicket.”
Kevin Pietersen was instrumental for England’s series victory against India in 2012. In the four match Test series that England won 2-1, Pietersen scored 338 runs at an average of 48.29, It included a knock of 186 in the second Test after England had lost the first. The innings proved pivotal and it was the second Test from where England started stamping their authority. They are the only team to have mounted a successful Test challenge in India since 2004.
Australia have had a sketchy record in Test matches while touring South Asia since 2004. They have just three victories from 20 Tests played (two of those in Bangladesh more than a decade ago) and only two batters in the current squad with a Test average above 40 in Asian conditions.
In the recent series at Sri Lanka, Australia were hammered 3-0 by Sri Lanka. So poor was their batting performance only captain Steven Smith and Shaun Marsh managed to score more than sixty runs in an innings in the entire series.
Online Source: The Indian Express
