India must use Pant’s aggression

Rishabh Pant hits the winning run in the fourth cricket Test against Australia at The Gabba in Brisbane on January 19, 2021. Pic/AFP

India have had the ideal build-up to their tour of Australia with two Tests against Bangladesh, then a more demanding three game series with New Zealand.

Apart from winning both series, India's priority will be to get as many players as possible into form without suffering major injuries. However, the most pressing matters are to achieve those aims with Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant.

Pant's ability to bounce back onto the Test scene is quite remarkable given his horrific car accident. Pant is a crucial wicketkeeper-batsman in the Indian line-up and he'd give the team a major boost if he's at the peak of his powers for the Australian tour.

As an in-form batsman Pant is vital, which he displayed on the 2020-21 Australian tour with crucial innings in both the Sydney Cricket Ground and Gabba Tests. His ability to score quickly, utilising his innovative aggression is an important part of India's strategy.

His wicketkeeping is also vital - if Pant can perform at his best he's the ideal ‘keeper for Australian conditions. If he's able to continue with his agile performance standing back, that is what is required in Australia. You need a ‘keeper who capably covers a lot of territory to both sides of the wicket. Any ‘keeper who fulfils those requirements not only improves the team's fielding but also allows the slip fielders to spread wider to cover extra territory.

However, his ‘keeping standing up to the stumps drastically improved before his serious injury, following an ultimatum from coach Ravi Shastri. The fact that Pant progressed from being a dubious ‘keeper against spinners to a very good gloveman standing up to the stumps, admirably displayed his willingness to work hard.

Pant's improvement sums up the thoughts of that excellent Australian gloveman Rod Marsh: "If you're the incumbent," he said, "and you don't improve then you're not thinking correctly."

Marsh rightly concluded that if you were ‘keeping and practising most days of the week then you should become a better ‘keeper.

While the batting needs to be at its best, the other crucial factor will be the Indian pace bowling. The presence of a ‘keeper-batsman in the middle-order and all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin give India the luxury of selecting five bowlers for each Test.

That makes the choice of fast bowlers paramount. The good form and fitness of both Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj - the two most successful pace bowlers on the last Australian tour - is essential. Of those two, Bumrah is the attack leader.

A critical part of India's build-up to the Australian tour will be ensuring Bumrah is in form, but remains fit to play the bulk of the five Tests. The difficulty of balancing this task was summed up perfectly by Australian pace hero Dennis Lillee on the 1972 tour of the UK. At the start of the long tour I suggested we might keep Lillee in cotton wool. He told me in very strong terms, "Like a batsman I need to be in form. When I take a five-wicket haul you can talk about putting me in cotton wool."

It was a lesson I learned from the big-hearted fast bowler and never forgot. It would be ideal if the mercurial Mohammed Shami is fit for Australia, but the presence of a good left-arm paceman would also improve India's variety in attack.

The spin bowling is in good hands with Jadeja and Ashwin. Nevertheless, I wouldn't discount the importance of Kuldeep Yadav on some Australian surfaces.

Of the young batsmen, Yashasvi Jaiswal looks very talented, but he needs to show good form in Australia. Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli should act as guiding lights for the younger batsmen on tour. The batting needs to be good in Australia as India showed with their series wins on the last two visits. Batting aside, it will help India's chances enormously if both Pant and Bumrah are performing at their best in Australia.

Former Australia captain Ian Chappell is one of the leading voices in world cricket
Clayton Murzello's Pavilion End column will be back next week.
The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper.