India vs Australia 2023

IND vs AUS: Former Pakistan batter points out main concern for Australia in upcoming Tests against India

India and Australia will face off against each other on February 9 for the Border Gavaskar Trophy. This will be the first time that the tournament will be held in India after the previous two editions being held in Australia in 2018 and 2021, which were both won by India. Spin will play a massive role on the Indian pitches.

Keeping this big factor into account, Australia have packed their spin attack with as many as four spinners. They are Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Swepson and Ashton Agar. Speaking on the same, former Pakistan cricketer Rashid Latif dropped a bombshell ahead of the series saying that the second spinner will be the weak link for Australia.

 Australia won the Lahore Test because of Nathan Lyon – Rashid Latif ahead of the IND vs AUS series

Australia are likely to go with two spin bowlers when conditions are taken into account. “The second spinner could be the weak link for Australia, be it Mitchell Swepson or Ashton Agar. Against Pakistan as well, Swepson played in Karachi, where the Test was drawn. Australia won the Lahore Test because of Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins’ excellent bowling. Lyon will have to bowl well again,” Latif said on his YouTube Channel ‘Caught Behind.’

The Australian spin department is like chalk and cheese when you compare the gap between Nathan Lyon and other spinners. While Lyon has picked up 460 wickets in 115 matches at an average of 31.95 and an economy rate of 2.93, the other three options have played a limited number of Test matches and have relatively less experience. Australia have one wrist spin option, two off-spin options and one left-arm spinner in Agar.

There has been a lot of hype around the potential of Mitchell Swepson from back home, but the wrist spinner is yet to show what he can do at the Test level. Swepson picked up two wickets from two games in the Test series against Pakistan at an average of 133. In a short Test career, he has played only 4 Test matches and picked up 10 wickets at an average of 45.80.