Shane Watson as a stand-in captain hit swashbuckling 124 opening the innings in the final T20 of the three-match series at Sydney Cricket Ground. Watson’s innings help Australia to post 197 for 5 in 20 overs. But Watson’s innings has gone in vain as India chased down the target in the last ball victory on Sunday (January 31) with the help of Rohit Sharma (52), Virat Kohli (50) and Suresh Raina (49).
With Aaron Finch is doubtful for the World T20 Watson’s performance is the only positive side for Australia in a series where Australia were whitewashed by the visitor. While David Warner and Aaron Finch are the preferred combinations, Watson made a strong case moving up the order if an opportunity arises with his century.
“I certainly do enjoy opening the batting, there’s no doubt about that,” agreed Watson. “It has always suited my game and my mentality as well, probably because I’m most experienced batting there and had the most success as well. But I have batted in all different slots in all different formats, and any chance that I get to play for cricket in Australia and in any format, I’m happy to bat anywhere.”
Watson is a good batsman of spinners that will also help his contention in the World T20 squad as an opener. In the Sydney T20, Watson battered Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. With the World T20 will be held in India, Australia’s well-documented problems against the turning ball was more reasonable to Watson higher.
“I just know from my personal perspective that for me, it makes it a lot easier to be able to face their spinners after getting myself into the game by facing the quicks,” explained Watson. “It’s a different ballgame to be able to come in, straight up facing their spinners. They’ve bowled to me a hell of a lot, throughout the IPL especially, and internationally. So they know my game very well. It just provides different challenges when you come in, in the middle order, needing 10 an over and that sort of thing. That’s a slightly different pressure compared to getting your innings going and then when they come on. I can play with a lot more freedom because I already know the conditions, how the pitch is playing. From that point of view, it made it a lot easier for me.”
“All I know is that Cameron Bancroft has done an excellent job for the (Perth) Scorchers. He also saved a few runs as well. It’s a tough game. That ball (the missed stumping) also spun out of the rough, so you can’t just expose a guy on debut for missing a chance. That happens to even guys who’ve played a lot – even to someone like Brad Haddin.”
Watson also talked about the Australian team, in spite of the 3-0 reverse, though he admitted that the scheduling made it impossible to address a problem he had flagged earlier that the scheduling made it impossible to address a problem he had flagged earlier that of continuity in team selection to allow players to settle down in roles. Australia will begin an ODI series against New Zealand on Wednesday, and several members of the T20I squad were thus unavailable for the last match against India.
“I don’t think there’s a hell of a lot to worry about. It’s more just about solidifying our roles,” said Watson. “Who’s going to play bowling wise, who’s going to bowl in Power Plays, middle overs. Once they’re able to get that right, which no doubt will happen before the South African tour, that’ll go a long way in helping us execute our roles.
“The simple fact is that there’s a one-day tournament starting on Wednesday in New Zealand, and that provides a lot of challenges to be able to manage guys’ workloads. They’ve had a big summer, they’ve come off just about non-stop cricket as well. It’s also one of the reasons why I retired from Test cricket because it is non-stop,” added Watson. “The preference would have been, no doubt, to have more continuity with our team. The way the schedules work nowadays, it’s nearly impossible to get your best team out every time you play, until it’s in the lead-up to the World T20 like the games in South Africa and the warm-up games.
“If the schedules aren’t as tight, then I’m sure things would have been very different. It makes it very challenging for the players, it makes it very challenging for the selectors, and as I’ve experienced throughout my career, it’s very hard when it’s non-stop, to be able to find who the best team is and work through that every single time,” Watson signed off.