Mental toughness key to facing Australia’s experienced bowling attack, says Gambhir

New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS) India head coach Gautam Gambhir believes mental toughness and the ability to absorb pressure will hold the key for India’s young batting lineup when they go up against Australia’s formidable bowling attack in the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, to be played from January 21 to March 3, 2027.

Australia’s marquee bowling group comprising Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon will take a stern examination of the Indian batters when the games take place in Nagpur, Chennai, Guwahati, Ranchi and Ahmedabad. India last won the series at home in 2023 by 2-1.

“Looking forward to it. That is probably one thing which I’m absolutely looking forward to, because playing against Australia at home, and obviously it wasn’t the best when we went to Australia. And for me, I think it is going to be India versus Australia, but before that, it is New Zealand. But the other challenge against Australia will be their experienced bowling attack.

“They’ve got the likes of obviously Starc, Nathan Lyon, Cummins, and Hazlewood. Obviously they’ve got so much experience of playing Test cricket against our young batting lineup. So it’s going to be a great experience for these guys.

“More importantly, in Test cricket, it’s about the skill, but it’s about how mentally strong and how much pressure you can absorb. The more pressure you absorb, and the more pressure you embrace, it’s going to give yourself the best chance,” said Gambhir to JioStar ahead of the start of India’s home season via three ODIs and five T20Is against the West Indies.

Reflecting on India’s preparation for the tough test at home, Gambhir pointed to their recent tour of Sri Lanka as proof that adequate lead time and targeted preparation for facing spinners will produce clear results on the field.

“But you could see that in Sri Lanka, we played two Test matches, and we got more than 400 runs in both the innings. And the reason was that we prepared extremely well. We went 10 days before the Test match, we could prepare playing spin, and then you could see the results as well.

“The thing is, I’m not going to give any excuses, but that’s the reality. When we played the Test series against South Africa, we were coming after playing a T20 series from Australia. And we had two days before the first Test match. I remember coming from Brisbane, and then we reached Calcutta. We had two practice sessions, and we were straightaway into the Test match against South Africa.

“Against the West Indies, obviously we did manage to win that series, but we came after winning the Asia Cup, and we had two days of practice sessions in Ahmedabad, and we were right straight into the Test match and now you could see the difference.

“When we went to Sri Lanka early, you could see the way guys played spin, because Sri Lanka isn’t easy conditions. In their own backyard, the weather, their spinners, their experienced spinners against our batting lineup.

“If you can get 400-plus in both the innings in both the Test matches, that just shows that there is a lot of improvement happening. So we will have to prepare well before New Zealand and before Australia, and obviously the focus is on spin, yes, that how well can we manage and how well can we negate spin,” he explained.

Gambhir also stated that young cricketers making their mark in the national setup must prioritize red-ball cricket above short-format monetary gains, citing Devdutt Padikkal and Manav Suthar as example. “Extremely important, because both of them are young, both of them are hungry, both of them value Test cricket.

“It is so important for the next generation who’s coming in to value Test cricket, because in today’s day and age, with so much of focus and so much of limelight and so much of monetary gains that are associated with T20 cricket, how we can keep Test cricket divine, and above the other two formats is going to be key.

“Also, how much value a young generation or the new guys coming in gives that red-ball cricket is going to be key. That’s why I said, a strong Test-cricketing nation is going to be a strong cricketing nation. When it comes to Manav and Dev, I think they value Test cricket, they’re disciplined, hungry, and prepare really well.

“And Manav, we’ve seen that I’ve got to give selectors and BCCI a lot of credit because the way they’ve handled Manav, for the amount of opportunities he’s got, the way he’s been groomed over such a long period of time, the amount of A tours he’s done and bowled in different conditions… So my belief is that the better we prepare, the better opportunity we have to deliver,” he concluded.

Watch the three-match ODI Series of the West Indies tour of India, from September 27 to October 3, 2 PM onwards, LIVE on JioHotstar and Star Sports Network

–IANS

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