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#CWC15: Australia captain Michael Clarke plays down role of spinners in Sydney
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq, whose team lost to Australia on Friday, thinks the co-hosts will have a tough time against India in the semi-finals at Sydney Cricket Ground because of the better quality of spinners in Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team.
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Misbah’s view could have been influenced by the fact that South African spinners took seven wickets in the first quarter-final in Sydney when they crushed Sri Lanka by nine wickets, but those were a direct result of the intense pressure created by the Proteas pace attack and fielders at the beginning of the innings.
But Misbah is spot on in assessing the spin strength of both teams. “Playing in Sydney they will miss a good spinner,” he said about the Aussies.
Not happy about playing India in sydney. Good pitch for their spinners
— Naim_hawks (@goldandbrown4) March 20, 2015
The Indian duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have together claimed 21 wickets while the Aussies have just six wickets from spinners with allrounder Glenn Maxwell claiming five and captain Michael Clarke’s left-arm spin fetching him one.
However, Clarke does not think spin will play a big role on Thursday pointing to the last game they played at the SCG, their Pool A match against Sri Lanka.
Maxwell and left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty went wicketless while the Sri Lankan spinners – Sachithra Senanayake, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Seekuge Prasanna – claimed two wickets in the 24 overs they bowled.
“I don’t think a ball spun in the game we played against Sri Lanka. I think it will depend on what wicket gets prepared,” said Clarke.
“The game that was played there recently (the first quarter-final) looked like it had a bit of grass on it, so that will certainly help our fast bowlers. But if it does spin, we have got spinning options in our squad, so I’m sure the selectors will assess that once we get to the SCG.
“Xavier Doherty has been a really good spinner for the Australian team over the last few years. We’ve got Glenn Maxwell, who picked up a couple of wickets against Pakistan. Hopefully, I can bowl a few overs, and we have got Steve Smith, as well. So, the selectors have options.
“I’ve got confidence that whatever 11 is selected, if we play our best cricket, we give ourselves every chance of winning that game in whatever conditions.”
More than spin, it’s India’s victorious run of seven straight wins and their acclimatisation to Aussie conditions, which worries Clarke.
“I always thought India were going to be extremely tough to beat not only because they are a very good team, but also because they have spent so much time in Australia and know the conditions quite well.
“The game on Thursday is going to certainly be a challenge, and we are definitely going to have to be at our best to beat them,” he added.
However, India need to be wary of their record in Sydney, which is abysmal across formats.
They last won a Test there in 1978 and have just one victory in 14 ODI meetings against Australia.
Interestingly, in that solo win in the first final of the 2008 Tri-Series, the spinners did play a role, with Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla and Yuvraj Singh bowling 24 overs between them for 89 runs and three wickets.
