Australia must take a leaf out of Pakistan's book as hosts get selection right

Ajit Vijaykumar 19:50 08/10/2018
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  • Hafeez (l) and Imam.

    No matter how good or bad things are, poor planning for the next venture is almost guaranteed to end in failure.

    In a cricketing context, failure to prepare well ahead of a major assignment and not picking the most ‘appropriate’ players makes the task a lot more difficult than it should be.

    Just take a look at India in England and Pakistan in the Asia Cup. The Indians had just one curtailed warm-up match before the five Test series and took a five-day leave before the opening match.

    They did not have two main fast bowlers – Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah – available for vast parts of the series and compounded their problems by going in with one spinner short in the first Test in Birmingham, one spinner extra on a green top at Lord’s and an injured spinner –Ravi Ashwin – in the fourth match in Southampton. In a low-scoring Test series, India lost 4-1 and we now know why.

    Pakistan went into the Asia Cup in the UAE with six fast bowling options. Having played in the UAE for a decade, they should have known that you need spinners to make an impact. As expected, the wicket in Dubai became slower as the tournament wore on and while India ended up picking four proper spinning options, Pakistan had two and a half at best.

    It was one of the main reasons, apart from poor form of opener Fakhar Zaman and pace spearheads Mohammad Amir and Hasan Ali, for their debacle.

    Team selection was in the spotlight during the first Test between Pakistan and Australia in Dubai. The men in green learnt their lessons from the Asia Cup and went in with tried-and-tested and experienced players for the series opener.

    There was no place in the squad/playing XI for Asia Cup flops like Amir, Ali and Zaman. Veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez was brought in to play his first Test in two years after hitting top form in the domestic circuit. Left-arm fast bowler Wahab Riaz was selected ahead of Mir Hamza.

    Hafeez is a master of Asian conditions and duly scored his fourth Test ton in the UAE. Wahab has bowled his heart out in these parts – 25 wickets in eight Tests at an average of 30 – and was clearly a better option than Amir in UAE – seven wickets in four Tests at 56.

    Compare that to what the Aussies did and you understand why Pakistan are in control of the opening match. Australia went in with three debutants in the absence of the banned Steve Smith and David Warner and injured pacers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.

    They did have the option of picking experienced off-spinning all-rounder Glenn Maxwell in the squad – but they didn’t.

    Maxwell was not selected despite being in great red-ball form.

    Maxwell was not selected despite being in great red-ball form.

    Maxwell was not selected for the UAE tour despite registering the best Sheffield Shield campaign of his career – 707 runs at an average of 50 – last season while being one of only two players in contention with a Test century in Asia under their belt.

    Not only was Maxwell overlooked, the reason behind it was comically bizarre as coach Justin Langer got his maths completely wrong when explaining the decision.

    “Glenn Maxwell is 30 years old and everything above A-grade cricket he’s scored 17 hundreds,” Langer had said. “I’ll put that in perspective for you, Steve Smith has scored 79 hundreds and David Warner’s scored 88. Travis Head, for example, is six years younger than Maxwell and he’s got 15 hundreds and white or red ball, he’s a developing cricketer, he’s a terrific young bloke, he’s a captain of South Australia, has been for three years and incredibly impressive.”

    Langer added up all centuries on the stats page, making the childish mistake of adding international and individual format centuries even through it is well known that the former is included in the latter. Even the fact that Maxwell bowls excellent off spin didn’t come to his aid.

    Australia don’t have a single recognised wrist spinner in the team. That decision came to haunt them as left-arm spinner Jon Holland was carted for 126 runs from 29 overs at more than four an over in Dubai while debutant batsman and part-time leggie Marnus Labuschagne was forced to roll his arm over.
    Someone like leg-spinner Adam Zampa would have been a better option as he has extensive experience of Asian conditions, albeit in limited overs cricket.

    Any other wrist spinner – experienced or otherwise – would have been a good choice as all Test teams try to include at least one wrist spinner. India played the first Test in Rajkot against the West Indies with three spinners; wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav as the third option.

    There is a lot more cricket left to be played in the Dubai Test and the second match in Abu Dhabi. But the Aussies have done themselves no favour with their selections while Pakistan have done the basics right by picking the right personnel according to the condition and opposition – Hafeez was selected because he could bowl off-spin to Australia’s three lefties in the top order.

    Sometimes it’s best to keep it simple.

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