Peter Handscomb’s batting is one of the very few positives for Australia in their otherwise dismal performance in the first two Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests against India so far.
Handscomb scored 31 and 6 in the opening Test in Nagpur and followed it up with scores of 71 not out and 0 in the second game in Delhi.
Ahead of the third Test, Handscomb has credited out-of-favour India batter Ajinkya Rahane for helping him combat spin bowling in the sub-continent.
During the 2016 edition of IPL, Handscomb shared the dressing room with Rahane. It was then Rahane suggested the Aussie batter to use the feet and wrist to open up the leg side while playing spinners.
“He was playing these shots off his back foot through midwicket which I thought were ridiculous,” Handscomb told Sydney Morning Herald. “I was like, wow I need someone to teach me that. So we spoke about getting his front leg out of the way and being able to manipulate the ball from there.
”That helps your back foot become a scoring zone, and then if they overpitch, you can hopefully score off the front foot as well. Then all their good balls you just find a way to defend.”
Handscomb got out for a duck while attempting a sweep shot in the second innings of the second Test at Kotla.
“India personally outplayed me in that situation. They gave me my scoring gap, but without the reward, so it was just going to be a single, but tempted me to hit the ball there.
“And I fell for that and tried to manipulate the ball there, had that been my third ball of the first innings, I would have just tried to defend, because I was still trying to understand the pitch and what was going on.
“For me, it’s just about being stronger and starting again. I probably walked out there thinking ‘I’m still on 72 not out, I can just pick up where I left off’, and you can’t think like that.”
Peter Handscomb feels tours are important in getting the hang of the conditions in the sub-continent.
“I’d have sessions where no matter what the bowler was bowling, I had to hit every ball on the leg side, and then the next day and every ball had to go on the off side, and every ball had to be played off the back foot, or every ball off the front foot,” he said.
“It was learning what I could and couldn’t do in subcontinent tours with no repercussions. I get to try all this. It’s just so different to back home, where bounce is key for spin. So tours are crucial.”
Despite conceding an unassailable lead to India, Handscomb said the visiting camp is positive.
“The feeling around the group is one of trust in each other’s games, which is very hard to come by. We’ll definitely take the positives out of Delhi.
“We still had a first innings lead, we’d done well there, we’d started well in the second innings and then it all just happened really fast and we didn’t stop it at any stage.
“The challenge is if there’s a moment where we have lost two or three quick ones, it’s being able to stop the flow for a second and let us all just take a step back, have a breath and then continue on with the game, and hopefully stem the flow of wickets that way.”
(With PTI Inputs)
