Former Australian head coach Darren Lehman has spoken of his country’s potential at the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy in India.
Australia will begin his tour of India with a four-match Test series at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Jamta on 3 February. Australia won his last friendly match in India in 2017, with spin being a major factor in the result. Left-arm spinner Stephen O’Keeffe was the winner of his team of 12 wickets in that match in Pune.
Nathan Lyon will be Australia’s main spinner in India, but a second choice is still to be decided, with Ashton Agher, who won the last title in India under former Australian international manager Darren Lehman, the right choice. Maybe. Speaking to radio station SENQ, Lehmann asked management to choose Agher without a cap for the second spinner role in India instead of Mitchell Swepson and Todd Murphy.
“Having been there, I’ve probably become more inclined to play finger spinners. Just moving fast through the air, some spin and some don’t. If you get it right, sometimes you spin too much… (in the case of finger spinners) when you spin you get hit from the inside and you get LBW,” Lehman said.
“That’s probably why they’re looking at finger spinners. We certainly did that 4 years ago (2017) Steve O’Keefe basically single-handedly knocked India out of the tournament in one of the last friendly matches he won So I would think of people like agar, little bats and bowls as that second spinner,” he added.
The final borders held in Australia his Gavaskar Trophy saw India win his 2–1 victory in dramatic fashion, with both sides battling for glory once again. Australia recently played her three-match Test series at home against South Africa, winning 2–0. Meanwhile, India beat Bangladesh 2-0 in the recently ended Test series.