Australia's assistant coach Andrew McDonald on Saturday (January 16) showed rich praise on India’s inexperienced bowling attack for the Brisbane Test.
In particular, McDonald was impressed with Washington Sundar as he felt that the young off-spinner filled the shoes of Ravichandran Ashwin "quite well".
Because of injury concerns, the visitors handed maiden Test caps to Sundar (3/89) and left-arm pacer T Natarajan (3/78) at the Gabba and both the debutants lived up to the expectations of team management by taking three wickets each as Australia got bowled out for 369 in the first innings.
"I thought they (the Indian bowlers) were very consistent. I thought Washington Sundar in particular was disciplined and fill that role of Ravi Ashwin quite well and kept it tight and was able to take some key wickets on the way," McDonald said at the virtual post-day press conference after Day 2, as quoted by PTI.
"So, for me I suppose, he is a bowler who controlled well the tempo of the game and I think it stood out for me."
McDonald also had special words reserved for Natarajan, who dismissed Marnus Labuschagne, Matthew Wade and Josh Hazlewood in Australia’s first innings.
"...Natarajan shaped the ball early, there is lot (to like) about him, left-arm swing bowler, no doubt he is inexperienced but has enough played First-Class games to be play his first Test on this tour, (that) is a great achievement, so I think they held their own,” the 39-year-old said.
Just like Sundar and Natarajan, Shardul Thakur also picked up three wickets.
"They (Indian bowlers) applied pressure throughout the innings and they made (it) difficult for ourselves. Times when we felt we would get on the top, they were able to bounce back and get key wickets at crucial times. It was great arm-wrestle, so full credit to their attack," the Australian assistant coach said.
Rain forced early stumps on day two at the Gabba. India finished the day on 62/2, still trailing Australia by 307 runs.
"India 2/60, to get (Rohit) Sharma just before the or what was to be the end of the play was very handy. But we had 100 runs today, could that have been more possibly, but in saying that 350-plus at the first innings at the GABBA is not a bad score," McDonald stated.
(With PTI inputs)
