Peter Handscomb recalls Ajinkya Rahane’s advice on playing spin

Peter Handscomb and Ajinkya Rahane

Australia's middle-order batsman Peter Handscomb has recalled how former India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane helped him combat spin bowling in the sub-continent.

During the IPL in 2016, Handscomb shared the dressing room with Rahane. The two had a chat were the Indian spoke about how to use the feet and wrist to open up the leg side while playing spinners.

"He was playing these shots off his back foot through midwicket which I thought were ridiculous," Handscomb told Sydney Morning Herald.

"I was like, wow I need someone to teach me that. So we spoke about getting his front leg out of the way and being able to manipulate the ball from there. That helps your back foot become a scoring zone, and then if they overpitch, you can hopefully score off the front foot as well. Then all their good balls you just find a way to defend."

After scoring an unbeaten 72 off 142 balls in the first innings, Handscomb, like many of his teammates, got out for a duck while attempting a sweep shot in the second essay of the second Test at Kotla.

"India personally outplayed me in that situation. They gave me my scoring gap, but without the reward, so it was just going to be a single, but tempted me to hit the ball there.

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"And I fell for that and tried to manipulate the ball there when, had that been my third ball of the first innings, I would have just tried to defend, because I was still trying to understand the pitch and what was going on.

"For me, it's just about being stronger and starting again. I probably walked out there thinking ‘I'm still on 72 not out, I can just pick up where I left off', and you can't think like that."

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