India would do well when they tour Australia this year: Shane Watson

Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson on Monday said that India would do much better in Australia when they tour at the end of this year, despite an average show by the batsmen in the ongoing Test series against England.

Barring skipper Virat Kohli who has been exceptional with 544 runs so far, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, none of the Indian batsmen could apply themselves and make an impact with the bat.

Not many among the Englishmen too have done well either with wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler being there highest run-scorer with 260 runs.

Watson who last played for Australia two years ago feels that the Indian batsmen now have the requisite skills to tackle the swinging ball in Australia. Also, they would be aided by the fact that the Kookaburra ball doesn’t move as much.

“It is not easy to play swing bowling. Trust me when Australia travel to England for Ashes next year, it won’t be easy for them also. England is the only place where the ball swings that much primarily due to conditions. You just can’t land in England once every three years and be successful,” said Watson, as quoted by the Press Trust of India.

He further added, “In Australia, the Kookaburra will stop swinging after first 10 or maybe 15 overs, unlike Dukes, which can swing all day. I don’t think bounce would be that much of a problem.

“I don’t think any international team is playing swing bowling well these days and that is reflective in the performance on overseas (tours),” he said.

The New South Wales cricketer further went on to speak about the problems that the Australians would face in putting up imposing totals on the board in the absence of Steve Smith and David Warner. The duo were handed twelve-month bans earlier this year due to their involvement in ball-tampering during a Test match in South Africa.

Watson also put his faith on Tim Paine the captain but at the same time, singled out the batting as his concern.

“The biggest challenge for Australia will be to post big scores in the absence of Warner and Smith. These two were instrumental in Australia getting big scores. Tim Paine is a capable man of leading Australia. He has the requisite leadership qualities but I am more concerned about the batting than captaincy,” he said.