Australia's Achilles Heel: Their frailties in the Indian subcontinent

#4 Unequipped Spin Attack

Nathan Lyon is Australia’s first-choice spin bowler

Out of the 60 Aussie wickets that fell in the Sri Lanka series, 54 were picked by the spinners, with Rangana Herath leading the way with 28 and ably supported by Dilruwan Perera and Lakshan Sandakan with 15 and 9 wickets respectively.

In contrast, Aussies picked 58, of which Starc alone accounted for 24. Every time the Aussies have toured the subcontinent, their spinners have failed to perform on par with those of the opposition.

Moreover, spin has never been top on the list of worries for the sub-continental batsmen, who have been brought up playing spin in these conditions. That is evinced by the fact that even the greatest of them, Shane Warne, has had a rough outing in India where he averaged a paltry 43.11

As crucial as it is for batsmen, bowlers too have to adapt their bowling styles to extract best out of these conditions. In a recent interview, Nathan Lyon had himself acknowledged that the subcontinent method of spin bowling where the bowler undercuts across the ball rather than over the seam was a skill that Aussie spinners were yet to acquire.