Australia men’s cricket team (AP)

Australia head coach Andrew McDonald views the upcoming T20I series against India as a crucial test for the team’s new aggressive batting style, which has been effective in recent months.

Under Mitchell Marsh, Australia has adopted a more attacking approach after consecutive group-stage exits in the last two T20 World Cups. This change has been successful, with Australia winning series against West Indies, South Africa, and New Zealand, losing only once in their last 11 T20Is.

India come into the five-match series as reigning T20 World Cup champions, with top-ranked T20I batter Abhishek Sharma, bowler Varun Chakaravarthy, and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah in their squad.

“There has been a shift. We’re 11 games in now from the initial conversation. When we set out on this journey, we’d failed in a couple of World Cups previously, so we wanted to shift and stretch the boundaries on what we thought we could do.”

“So yeah, we have been more aggressive, we’ve played people in different positions. Tim David has batted a little bit higher than previously. Our admission was that we haven’t been successful in a couple of campaigns. We’ve got to change things up. We’ve got to stretch ourselves.”

“Is it the style that can win a World Cup? We believe so. Will we have to pivot and nuance it slightly, depending on whether we’re in Colombo or Delhi or Kolkata? There’s no doubt about that.”

“You’re playing against India, so it’s a really good test on whether this style will hold up. They’re the number-one ranked team in the world, I think we’re number two. We’re excited to test ourselves against the best.”

“Those younger players that have got some opportunity, what better opportunity than to play against the best team in the world and stand up in that environment,” McDonald was quoted as saying to reporters in Canberra on Monday, ahead of the opener on Wednesday evening.

Next Crop Of Pacers

Australia is also evaluating options to replace Mitchell Starc in the pace attack, with Nathan Ellis as the designated death-overs specialist and several players vying for supporting roles. McDonald expressed excitement about developing the next crop of bowlers.

“We’re gathering information around what that next crop will be. We’ve been so stable with Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood in white-ball formats. So to see Ellis shape as a frontline bowler, how we use him, to see Xavier Barlett, Sean Abbott now gets a little bit more runway in terms of pressing his claims as well, then Mahli Beardman joining us in the middle of this series is exciting. We’re excited by that next crop,” added McDonald.

(With inputs from Agencies)