Indian bowlers got the better of Australia batsmen by employing a leg-side field during the recently-concluded Test series but its planning, spearheaded by head coach Ravi Shastri, started way back in July last year, bowling coach Bharat Arun revealed on Friday (January 22).

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India’s stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane used a leg slip for his seam, spin bowlers on quite a few occasions during the four-Test series and the likes of Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne fell into that trap.

Despite losing the first Test in Adelaide, the visitors won the series 2-1 after pulling off a stunning chase on the final day at the Gabba.

"Ravi called me sometime in July and we were discussing the Australia tour, that we needed to take the off side out of the Australians. So, we had our own analysis and we felt most of the runs Smith and Labuschagne scored and most of Ausssie batsmen, they had got lot of runs out of the cut, pull and on the off side," Arun said while speaking to media in an online press conference, as quoted by PTI.

Arun further said they also learnt from how the New Zealand bowlers, especially Neil Wagner, who troubled Smith during the series between the two teams last season.

"So, Ravi called up and said 'I want you to make a plan where you eliminate the off side out of the Australians'. He said we will attack straighter lines and have an on side field so it is very difficult for batsmen to be consistently clearing the onside fields. That really worked for us."

Arun said the strategy was later discussed with skipper Virat Kohli.

"The thought process started sometime in July then we had discussions with Virat. He bought into the theory and we employed the same strategy in Adelaide and Ajinkya was magnificent from Melbourne onwards. The bowlers responded beautifully to that," said the bowling coach.

(With PTI inputs)