Langer lauds India’s discipline

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Australia coach Justin Langer was full of praise for India’s discipline and planning in their Test series so far.

Speaking during a virtual press conference on Tuesday ahead of the start of the third Test in Sydney on Thursday, Langer glowing in his praise for the visitors’ bowling, but vowed to fix his side’s batting, amidst a series of low scores so far.

“Their greatest strength over the last couple of series has been their discipline,” Langer said.

“They [India] have been so well disciplined…I have loved the last two Tests because the wickets have been a contest between bat and ball and you have got to work a bit harder and that is what Test cricket is all about.”

Seamers bowling testing line

The former Australia opener pointed out how the visitors had bowled a straighter line so far in the series, and set their fields accordingly.

Whilst India’s pace attack – arguably their greatest in history – has received a lot of praise, Langer was also impressed by Ravichandran Ashwin, who is difficult to score against him.

“So, I think, there is the factor of the wickets that we have played on, there is certainly some seam movement, there was a little bit of swing in both those wickets. India have taken a straighter line to a couple of our batters and set the fields accordingly,” he continued.

“Obviously, [Jasprit] Bumrah is a world-class bowler and [Mohammed] Siraj coming in, he is a very skill-full bowler…I thought he [Siraj] bowled very well in his first Test match, his debut, so we are interested to see who comes in as their probably third quick [and] time will tell.

“And let’s not discount Ravi Ashwin, how many has he taken 380 Test wickets? The great bowlers are the ones who are hard to score against and Bumrah is certainly up there at the moment, Ashwin is up there at the moment, we are aware of it.

“We know how we like to play our cricket as Australians, but credit to India, very well-planned, as you would expect they have discipline in their bowling, the wickets that we have played on have been competitive, so we are aware of that and I’m not too stressed about it [scoring rate].

Working on countering spinners

In addition, Langer said he is closely working with the batsmen in the squad, particularly in ways to counter the Indian slow bowlers.

“I think we have got to look at our strategies against the Indian spinners. Ashwin is bowling in very well and we have worked hard on that last week or so,” the Australian head coach added.

“We have only scored precisely 200 in that second innings [in Melbourne] but anytime in Test cricket when you are not scoring over 200s, you are looking at ways to improve.

“Obviously, Davey [David Warner]coming back in after injury, you always welcome back your great players back into the team. There is plenty of batting talent in Australia and it is all about opportunities, obviously.

“You fit six batsmen in at one time, so it is all about opportunities.”

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