Canberra, Oct 27 Australia head coach Andrew McDonald believes the upcoming T20I series against India will serve as a litmus test for the team’s revamped batting style, which has yielded success in recent months.
Under Mitchell Marsh, Australia have embraced a more aggressive batting philosophy following back-to-back group-stage exits in the last two T20 World Cups. The shift has paid dividends, with Australia winning series against West Indies, South Africa, and New Zealand - losing just once in their last 11 T20Is.
India are entering the five-match series as reigning T20 World Cup champions, and are coming into Australia with a squad featuring top-ranked T20I batter Abhishek Sharma and bowler Varun Chakaravarthy, as well as ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah.
"There has been a shift. We're 11 games in now from the initial conversation. When we set out on this journey, we'd failed in a couple of World Cups previously, so we wanted to shift and stretch the boundaries on what we thought we could do."
"So yeah, we have been more aggressive, we've played people in different positions. Tim David has batted a little bit higher than previously. Our admission was that we haven't been successful in a couple of campaigns. We've got to change things up. We've got to stretch ourselves."
"Is it the style that can win a World Cup? We believe so. Will we have to pivot and nuance it slightly, depending on whether we're in Colombo or Delhi or Kolkata? There's no doubt about that."
"You're playing against India, so it's a really good test on whether this style will hold up. They're the number-one ranked team in the world, I think we're number two. We're excited to test ourselves against the best."
"Those younger players that have got some opportunity, what better opportunity than to play against the best team in the world and stand up in that environment," McDonald told reporters in Canberra on Monday, ahead of the opener on Wednesday evening.
Australia are still assessing options to fill the void left by Mitchell Starc, who retired from T20Is earlier this year. With Nathan Ellis locked in as the designated death-overs specialist, Ben Dwarshuis, Sean Abbott, Matt Kuhnemann, and Xavier Bartlett are vying for supporting roles in the pace attack for the T20I series against India.
"We're gathering information around what that next crop will be. We've been so stable with Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood in white-ball formats. So to see Ellis shape as a frontline bowler, how we use him, to see Xavier Barlett, Sean Abbott now gets a little bit more runway in terms of pressing his claims as well, then Mahli Beardman joining us in the middle of this series is exciting. We're excited by that next crop,” added McDonald.
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