Haddin, who was quite a talented wicket-keeper batter for the former Australia cricket team, was of the opinion that Australian fast bowlers will be too much for the Indian batters to handle. Haddin in a recent discussion emphasized the downfalls of Indian batters, who of any class may find it intolerable to score runs over the Australians due to their fear of bouncers. In fact, he went as far as to mention a promising player Yashasvi Jaiswal, who even though has been scoring runs, he feels the left-handed batsman might find the going tough in the first test match starting November 22.
“No, I don’t think that the Indian batters are going to stand up to our quicks. Haddin also took the name of Jaiswal stating he is a really good player but he hasn’t actually gone out to see Australia so I don’t know if he is able to cope with the bounce. It also does help that he is opening in Perth,” Haddin said on the LiSTNR Sport podcast.
In that podcast, Aaron Finch, the former Australian captain, gave his take along with Haddin and said that the top order of Australia will also have troubles with the Indian seamers. Finch also added that the two wicketkeepers – Rishabh Pant and Alex Carey – will be match winners in this series.
“I think the key could be Alex Carey and Rishabh Pant as the two wicketkeepers are going to be very significant. The top order at some juncture in the series is bound to get blown away. Both fast-bowling attacks are so good that they will get on a roll and dispatch the top order. So for me it’s that really critical role of Alex at No. 7 and Rishabh at 6 probably. Carey is aggressive, Rishabh is aggressive. The game will swing one way or the other very fast. And I think that will be very critical,” Finch stated.
“It could be during the second new ball, when you are 5 down and it’s just about to be stumps. And they take it for 50 in those 10 overs. It just changes the entire course of the game. To me, the presence of No. 7 in the match is vital because for me at least, the fast-bowling attacks are reasonably equalized. Someone like Nathan, Ashwin, or Jadeja…maybe only Nathan with the edge of playing in Australia. For some time now, both batting line-ups have been a bit off their optimal performance and this has made the keepers quite relevant,” he said in conclusion.
