News: Allan Border does not have the answer to how Australia can tackle India's spinners

For more than a decade, two players have been the driving force behind India’s unrivalled dominance in Tests at home: all-rounders Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Australia brought in a ‘double’ of one of them to prepare for the series, while the other was dubbed ‘kryptonite’ after his twin match-winning performances in the series, which helped India take a 2-0 lead. So, what should the Australian government do now? What should they alter? The questions have plagued Australian fans, and legendary batter Allan Border’s epic response neatly summarised the threat that Jadeja and Ashwin pose.

India last lost a Test match at home against England in 2012. Only five bowlers have taken 150 or more wickets at home, with an average of less than 20. With 237 wickets at 17.30, Ashwin leads the list, with just James Anderson averaging (15.83 with 163 wickets) less. Jadeja, another club member, took 155 wickets at 18.42, the third-best average. In the current series, Jadeja and Ashwin lead the wicket-taking rankings with 31 wickets each, including three five-wicket hauls. Jadeja has 17 wickets at 11.23, while Ashwin has 14 at 13.92.

Former Australia batsman Border was asked what modifications Australia should make to their methods after the conclusion of the second Test in New Delhi, suggesting the much-criticised strategy of sweep strokes, which resulted in five of the nine dismissals in the second innings. Border was unable to respond. The word on the street is that there is a new puppy on the loose, and he needs to be rescued. “I do feel bad for the batters because you are learning on the job and coping with this sort of bowling. It’s a tough one and I don’t know what the answer is,” he said.

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Harbhajan takes a dig at the Aussies

Meanwhile, As per Sports Tak, Harbhajan Singh, who was the star of India’s 2001 series win against Australia at home, chastised the current team for their pre-match discussions centred on practice matches and grounds in India. He believed that these “bad things” caused disarray among the Australian players, which showed in their performance, “Australia practised against Ravichandran Ashwin’s duplicate, but I feel the Australian team itself is a duplicate one. Their mindset is such that they are only focusing on negative things. They created so much confusion that they lost the game even before the first ball was bowled. It doesn’t seem like they have done any preparation for this tour. Looking at their performance, I think the only thing they practised was getting out,” he said.

While Harbhajan is confident that India would win the series 4-0, he also took a go at Australia, claiming that if it had been a 10-match series, the tourists would have lost all ten games. “I have absolutely no doubt that India will win 4-0. Even if it was a 10-match series, India would beat Australia 10-0 because this Australian team doesn’t have any firepower. If there is something on the pitch, they throw their wickets from the dressing room itself,” Harbhajan elaborated.