Overshadowed by the seamlessly unending talks around the absence of Steve Smith and David Warner, were the struggles of Australia's much-celebrated bowling attack when India rewrote history books on their last trip.
Virat Kohli & company won the Test series 2-1 to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, with their bowlers certainly leaving Australia head-scratching over the depth of batting talent within the country. Performing the way the likes of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon weren't able to replicate against Indian batsmen with Pat Cummins looking the stand-out Australian on show.
Ensuring that doesn't happen again is one of the areas of focus for the team management, said head coach Justin Langer, who wants his bowlers to show more consistency and potency at all stages of the four-Test series.
Without making excuses, Langer recalled how a couple of crucial tosses lost at the back half of the 2018-19 series made a huge difference in the end outcome.
"If I go back to that time (2018-19), we lost a toss at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) after winning the Perth Test match -- lost the toss on possibly the flattest wicket I've seen in Test cricket ... and they (India) bowled for nearly two days. And then we had to back it up and play at the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground)the next Test match on a pretty flat wicket as well," he was quoted as saying by The Age newspaper.
"Not making excuses, but it was tough going back then. India were on top of their game, they deserved to beat us for the first time in their history. But our guys are two years better and a lot of the Indians are the same, more experienced. I can't wait to see them go. Can't wait," Langer added.
The Test series begins in Adelaide on December 17 with Australia's maiden D/N pink-ball outing versus India. Melbourne (December 26-30), Sydney (January 7-11) and Brisbane (January 15-19) will host the last three Tests.
(Inputs from IANS)
