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Chennai: There has been a lot of talk regarding the Australians taking a cue from England’s Test-series victory in India before they embark on their four-Test challenge.
Almost echoing that point was young Australian pacer James Pattinson, who said that he expects captain Michael Clarke to play as authoritatively against spin as Alastair Cook did.
Speaking during a media conference, Pattinson also said that he believes that India, even without Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, have a class batting line-up.
The following are excerpts
On the Australians’ view of the new-look Indian batting line-up
It’s different batting line-up from the one we played against last… But still it’s a class batting line-up. It’s a fantastic line-up with (Sachin) Tendulkar in form after a century in the Irani Cup. (Virender) Sehwag can do anything on his day. It’s good that Dravid and Laxman are not there. We are looking forward to the challenging conditions.
If he expects a tough fight
It’s going to be a good battle… We are not going to get friendly conditions like we did in Australia. We bowled quite well over there, so to come here and do well is something that would be great.
Whether the pace attack holds the key for them
Jackson Bird has had a really good summer and so have the two left-armers — Mitchell Johnson and Starc… Strac has been bowling fantastically. It’s fantastic not to have just three bowlers and going to the game with four who want to perform. The best thing is that we all offer something different.
On what would be the strategy of the Aussie pacers
We will do the homework before the first Test and work on plans for different batsmen. We will try and mix it up, especially on wickets with invariable bounce. At this level, batsmen play with patience, so it’s important to be consistent, mix it up and be smart.
If he is frustrated because of his frequent injuries
It’s frustrating not to play consecutive games through the year… But I am more mature now and my aim is to play Test matches consistently. The best way to learn is by playing cricket and not just by bowling in the nets. So I am going to manage that in the next couple of years until I become 26, at which point I can play almost every Test available.
On why he gets injured so often
The reason behind my injury was probably bowling too much at a young age… I suppose trying to bowl too fast every delivery is one of the reasons I break down... When Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson had started playing, they were injury prone as well… So it’s not just me who is breaking down.
The steps that he has taken to remain injury-free
It has happened to other bowlers who are of my age…. So it’s about managing the amount of cricket that is played at my age, to keep the skill going and improving… At my age, I am not going to play every Test… It’s about managing yourself… Be it me, Mitchell Starc or Pat Cummins, how many Tests we are going to play and to keep our skills going will hold the key.
On their plans to tackle spin
You are not supposed to play against the spin over here… We have got some good players of spin and almost all of our batsmen have spent some time in the middle during the first warm-up game. So that’s a bonus to take. Pup (Michael Clarke) is one of the best players of spin in the world and, hopefully, he can play the role that (England captain) Alastair Cook did against the Indians. We have got younger players as well who should play around him.
If he saw offie Pervez Rasool’s bowling in the first warm-up match
I think he bowled very well on the wicket and it turned quite a bit… He bowled a lot of overs as well.
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