'Don't just play to survive but...': Shane Watson provides key tips to Australian batsmen

Former Australian allrounder Shane Watson has his say about the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy between Australia and India, which will begin from 6 onwards. The former RCB cricketer also provided important batting tips to the national team. While Australia is the top-placed team in the ICC Men’s Rankings, India is second and are the favorites to advance into the ICC World Test Championships 2021-23 cycle.

Heading into the series, India’s strength in their spin bowling attack will be a matter of concern for the Aussies. Speaking on the same in a conversation with ESPNCricinfo, Watson said, “Using a straight bat to be able to hit off the back foot through the off side or the leg side. I wish I had got that through my head and then developed that instinct earlier because it’s much lower risk. All the good players, especially from India, very rarely do they use cross-bat shots, especially for a pull shot”. 

“One thing I didn’t really do [in India] was just accept what I had at that moment in time, instead of trying to be someone else. I was thinking, ‘Should I use my feet this time to get out and cover the ball from spinning or should I sit deep in the crease’, instead of going, ‘Well this is what I’ve got right now, and this is the best way for me to try and have success,” he added.

India vs Australia, four-match Test series: Know full schedule

Australia is slated to tour India for a four-match Test series which is scheduled to begin on February 9. After the first Test concludes on February 13, the second Test will begin on February 17, before the third Test kicks off on March 1. The iconic Border-Gavaskar series will conclude with the fourth Test, which begins on March 9.

• India vs Australia 1st Test from February 9 to 13 at VCA Stadium, Nagpur
• India vs Australia 2nd Test from February 17 to 21 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
• India vs Australia 3rd Test from March 1 to 5 at HPCA Stadium, Dharamshala
• India vs Australia 4th Test from March 9 to 13 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

 India vs Australia, four-match Test series: Full squads

India’s Test squad for the first two Tests against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav

Australia’s squad: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith (vc), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner