The first test at Kandy was a complete eye opener for Australia, as the Kangaroos were undone by the brilliance of the veteran Rangana Herath. Before the tour, several pundits across the globe had expected the Australian batsmen to be successful right from the word go, as this unit was perceived as a rather efficient and productive unit. However, all hopes from the Australian side came down crashing as the first test ended with a famous victory for the Sri Lankans.
Traditionally, Australia have struggled in Asia, and their recent record of seven consecutive losses here is an indication of the dismal performance. In 2014, a two-match series against Pakistan ended in a complete drubbing in UAE, while that famous whitewash at the hands of India in 2013 is still fresh in the memories of a lot of fans.
With the second test at Galle, a happy hunting ground for the Sri Lankans, former Australian captain, and batting great Ricky Ponting had a message for the Australian batsmen. Ponting urged the young batsmen to learn from their mistakes and try to build on their innings.
Ponting said that the batsmen would have to be patient against spin on testing wickets. “On the truer wickets it was okay (to drive on the up) because you could get away with it, but the one thing I learned about playing spin in India, the first couple of tours were horrible, but the last few tours I had there where I actually understood what I was trying to do a bit better, I actually had some success,” Ponting said in one of his chats with ESPN Cricinfo.
“That’s a concept that Australian batters don’t have to think about because the ball doesn’t spin very much in domestic cricket here. Even our current blokes, if you look at the struggles they had against Graeme Swann in the last Ashes series, it was because you’re just not brought up seeing and playing quality spin, and more importantly playing it in conditions that actually favor the bowler. Even with our practice facilities in Australia, you don’t get that very often,” Australia’s leading run getter in test matches said.
Ponting also said that the Australian batsmen should try to seek inspiration from the way India’s limited-overs captain MS Dhoni counters spin bowling. “If you watched the way he (Dhoni) played, he was always out in front, flicking his wrists, and for us, that was so foreign,” Ponting said. “Dhoni does it really well as well. He’s not actually a great player of spin bowling but he’s got the technique there where they work the ball around and never get caught at bat-pad or done on length. When we go there we always get caught at bat-pad because we’re predicting where the ball is going to go.”