Australia will be touring India for a four-match Test series under Border -Gavaskar trophy and the same former Australian coach Derren Lehmann have picked his second spinner for this much-awaited series. These four matches will decide the fate of both teams in the ICC Test Championship points table.
Lehmann believes Agar can have an impact similar to how Steve O’Keefe did on their tour in 2017, even though Nathan Lyon is slated to be the spin-bowling attack’s spearhead. In the turning track of the Pune Test, Australia won the game thanks to the left-arm spinner O’Keefe for his 12 wickets.
Then Lehmann was the team’s head coach, he believed finger spinners would perform better in India on surfaces. Todd Murphy and Mitchell Swepson are two other spinners in the 18-member team that will tour India.
While speaking to Australian radio station SENQ Lehmann said, “Having been there, I’m probably more inclined to play finger spinners. It just gets through the air quicker and some spin and some don’t. The leg spinners sometimes spin it too much, if that makes sense… (finger spinners) some skid on, and you get beaten on the inside and you get an LBW.
He further added, “That’s probably why they’re looking at a finger spinner. We certainly did that four years ago (2017) and Steve O’Keefe bowled India out basically on his own in one of the last Test matches to win there. That’s why I’d be looking at someone like an Agar, bat a little bit, bowl as that second spinner.”
More or less, Australia has already secured its spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, while India needs to win the series by a minimum of 2-0 or 2-1 in order to go to the final match.
