Fresh from his second hundred against Pakistan in the Sydney Test, Australia’s Peter Handscomb has said he loves playing spin and rather waits for the spinner to take the ball when he’s at the crease.
Well, if we look at it from a broader picture, his words do send a strong message to Indian spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who have been termed as the soul threat for Australia when they tour India for four Tests in February this year.
The middle-order batsman, who scored an impressive 110 before getting out hit-wicket, said it was great scoring runs against Yasir Shah, who by Shane Warne himself, has been termed as the best spin bowler in the world.
“I think it’s always a challenge. And they (Pakistan) are world-class bowlers – Yasir’s a great bowler in his own right. So to come out and make runs against him, but also try and take it to him, use my feet the way that I do. I love it.”
Inspite having less feet movement, Peter Handscomb has caught the eye of Pakistan’s coach Mickey Arthur, who seemed to find his technique less attractive but efficient enough to tackle spin for a longer patch of time. However, Handscomb’s ability to play the ball late has actually helped him in the series, and has rather looked decent to get past the spin kings of India, when both sides square-off in the first Test at Pune, starting February 22.
“It’s an interesting technique but one that he seems very confident with, it’s one that he plays really well with. He (Handscomb) hits the ball very late, he hits the ball under his eyes. You always feel like you’ve got a chance coming around the wicket at him, but generally he scores very well through the leg side. We’ve tried all sorts, we’ve analysed him to nth degree but he keeps coming up trumps. So well played”, Arthur concluded.