While many cricketing pundits have labelled India as favourites to break their Test series duck in Australia during the 2018-’19 tour, former Australia coach John Buchanan isn’t among them.
The 65-year-old, who had coached a highly successful Australian team between 1999 and 2007, believes the series is going to be closely contested. He has also put his money on the hosts winning the series, despite the absence of the banned Steve Smith and David Warner.
“While Australia are weakened, India’s record away from home is not very good like every touring team right now,” Buchanan told the Times of India in an interview. “That automatically gives the home team an advantage. On top of that, Australia have a better bowling attack for home conditions.”
Buchanan also believes India captain Virat Kohli will not have a successful Test series Down Under despite being in sublime form. “Australia don’t have a batsman of Virat Kohli’s calibre but the Australians will bowl well to Kohli and I don’t think he will be able to dominate the series,” he said.
“I feel the likes of Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja will contribute sufficiently to enable Australia to win the series,” he added.
Elaborating on how the Aussies can keep the Indian captain quiet, Buchanan said, “Kohli likes to get bat on ball very early. Therefore, a left-arm pacer like Starc will look to bowl away from him and get Kohli to chase the ball.
“I think the Australians know how to bowl to Kohli and it’s about whether or not they can execute their plans. Having said that, Kohli is an outstanding player who has the ability to negate Australia’s tactics.”
The first Test of the four-match series begins on December 6 in Adelaide.
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