One person who knows the hardships of playing a Test series against India in their own backyard, is Australia’s ever flamboyant opener David Warner. Warner has toured India for a Test series once, but fair to admit, that outing was far from an ideal one, as he couldn’t do anything noteworthy with the bat. Back in February/ March 2013, the Australians were slaughtered by the then MS Dhoni led India team and whitewashed 0-4.
4 years later, and after amassing buckets of runs, Warner is back on the very same shores, in a bid to redeem his previous disastrous tour. The three day warm up game in Mumbai served as fine preparation for the Australians in a bid to acclimatize themselves. Post the game, Warner mentioned that the visitors need to be completely certain about their plans, something which recent tourists to India, like England and New Zealand weren’t.
“You have got to have your plans in place and stick to them. The challenge here is to be mentally fresh and have mental toughness. You have got to be able to grind your time and bat here. You have seen the players who have come here and have success have great mental toughness,” Warner said.
“We haven’t played Test match here for a long time,” Warner said. “The last time we played here, it was my first time and it was tough. It was challenging for me as a player. I learnt a lot about myself. Back then, I was a bit younger and a bit childish. I have learnt a lot in the last four years since then.”
Elaborating about the plans further, Warner said, “The ball is going to get soft fast, but you have got to assess the conditions.” “They are going to bowl tight line early on with the ball swinging. Whether you’ve to let the ball come to you, rotate the strike, attack or defend the spinners, you got to have that mindset and you got to be positive with that, and you can’t second guess yourself. If you second guess yourself, you are out. You got to stick to your plan and adapt out there.”