Once spinners come on, it’s a different ball game altogether: David Warner

Australian opener David Warner feels that when the spinners start bowling in tandem, it becomes a different ball game altogether. The visitors have been unable to combat spin and were troubled by the duo of wrist spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, in both the games. Their frailties against the spinning ball are the reason of their undoing and the attacking opener has expressed that they got to have a game plan against the Indian spinners.

While practising on the eve of the third match in Indore, there was spring in Warner’s stride in the nets. The determination was also there from a man who is not accustomed of repeated failures. He was the one who batted for a long time in the nets and fine-tuned his skills for the must-win encounter for Australia on Sunday.

Have to apply pressure on spinners

No Australian batsman has so far been able to put the young Indian spinners apart from Glenn Maxwell who has hit Kuldeep for sixes at will in the previous two games. The left-hander believed that if the pressure is reversed on them, it will benefit the batsmen. He also claimed that the batsmen are going defensive which has allowed the bowlers to bowl in their zone.

“I find that the players can read them and there’s the odd one or two that you probably can’t see the seam and then the players react off the wicket. That’s probably the odd one here or there. At the end of the day, you’ve got to have a game plan against spin. Whether or not it’s hit down the ground or sweep the ball. And when you’re losing wickets in clumps you become tentative, so you have to apply that pressure, he said.

“If you get off to a good start and the spinners come on it’s a different game then. It’s about the tempo of the game and the situation of the game. I feel if we’re in a different position you’re going to see a different mode against the spinners or a different tempo,” Warner continued. The opener also said that the technique and the approach of the batsmen need to be changed to be successful overseas.

“When it comes to technique and you grow up on wickets that are fast and bouncy and then you come to the subcontinent and it’s your first Test series. It’s very hard to adapt. But when you keep coming back there’s no excuse, you should know the conditions very well. In saying that, when you’re out there it’s totally different. You become tentative.

“The game situation dictates (that). If you lose a couple of wickets, what do you do? Do you use your feet? Do you play with one stride? They’re the things that you have to work out and adapt when you’re here. As a senior player coming back to these situations, you should know your game well enough – I’ll talk one-day format – to get off strike, to hit the guys on the boundaries. You should know that game very well,” the 30-year-old added.

Warner was also sympathetic about his young opening partner Hilton Cartwright who has endured a forgettable outing in his first series. “It’s always challenging as a young guy to come into

“It’s always challenging as a young guy to come into team and take the bull by its horns, it’s very very difficult. Especially when you come over here and play for the first time on the world stage against one of the best one-day teams in the world on their home park. It’s very very difficult, it can be overwhelming. What he brings to us is a lot of energy and a lot of experience in his knowledge of the game. He’s a workaholic. He loves the game of cricket. He brings a good dynamic to our set up and we thoroughly love having him here,” he concluded.