Till the Hobart Test against South Africa, it clearly seemed that Australian cricket was headed absolutely nowhere. The results weren’t going their way and more than anything else, senior players were continuously going through disastrous outings. The series loss was a much needed wake up call, as young and fresh legs were added to the setup, which led a complete revamp of the team.
Among those individuals was the 20-year-old England born opener Matt Renshaw. In four Test matches the southpaw has featured in, he has been terrific and a great partner to the ever flamboyant and destructive David Warner. Australia have won all Tests since that defeat at Hobart and Renshaw has played a pivotal role in that resurgence.
With a century to his name, Renshaw’s next assignment is bound to be a career defining one. Probably in the harshest conditions and against the world’s best Test team currently, Renshaw will have a point to prove. On the sidelines of a practice session, Renshaw admitted he is quite confident for India tour.
“You hear certain things from certain players, but you never know until you get over there, so just looking forward to getting over there now and enjoy the challenge,” Renshaw said.
Adding that a conversation with all-time legend Matthew Hayden has helped him quite a bit, the opener said:
“I had a couple of conversations with him over the phone. He is really good, just told me try and embrace it over there, get as much experience as I can. I’m 20 years old and going to one of the hardest places to play to play in the world. So, I will just try and embrace and enjoy the challenge,” he said.
“I think probably the sweep will be a big one for me, just try and stay low and use my reach as a tall bloke. I’ve probably got that advantage over some of the other guys. But they have got more advantages than me in different parts. “I mean I can probably get sort of balls that are gonna turn a bit better than the short guys without moving my feet too much. So I’ll try and use that as much to my advantage as possible,” Renshaw concluded.