Australia’s success in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy hinges on their ability to neutralize India’s formidable spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, according to all-rounder Glenn Maxwell.
India has won the last two Test series in Australia, becoming the only Asian nation to achieve this feat. Maxwell believes that Ashwin and Jadeja have played a pivotal role in India’s dominance, often dictating the outcome of matches.
“Over a long period of time, having played against guys like Ashwin and Jadeja, those two seem to have always been the ones we’ve faced consistently, and the battles we’ve had with them have often dictated the outcome of the game,” Maxwell said.
Maxwell, who no longer plays Test cricket for Australia, emphasized the importance of nullifying the Indian spinners. The Ashwin-Jadeja combination has taken a staggering 821 wickets in 330 innings, including 50 five-wicket hauls.
“If we play well against those two (Ashwin, Jadeja), we’ll generally find ourselves in a better position compared to when they’ve had a field day and run through us,” Maxwell added.
Maxwell also praised India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah for his remarkable transformation into an all-format bowler. He hailed Bumrah as the best in the business at the moment.
“And probably, more recently, Jasprit Bumrah. I was there in his first year of the IPL in 2013 at Mumbai and pretty much faced him every day in the nets,” Maxwell said. “To see him evolve from a young, untapped talent to what he is now—the probably best bowler across all three formats—is a pretty amazing story.”
