By Jon Pierik
Emerging batting star Peter Handscomb has vowed to adopt a positive mindset against India but cannot guarantee that will be a successful approach.
Handscomb has an unorthodox technique but his plan against spin bowling has been obvious in his brief – but flourishing – Test career which began against South Africa this summer.
Player of spin: Peter Handscomb expects local conditions in the four Tests will be "unpredictable".Credit: Getty Images
The Victorian, known as a strong player of spin, has been proficient at playing deep in his crease to give himself as much time as possible to assess the turn, while he also enjoys getting down the wicket.
However, Australia's biggest issue during a 3-0 series loss to Sri Lanka last year wasn't the turning ball – rather it was judging the straight, skidding deliveries which the batsmen thought would turn.
Handscomb said he was still a work in progress as he tinkered with his game plan at Australia's training base in Dubai, before leaving for India on Monday.
Asked about handling the skidding deliveries, Handscomb replied: "Some of the world's best batters don't know how to do that, so I don't know how exactly I am going to do it. I have a few game plans in my head and, hopefully, they work for me but I won't know until I get out there."
He said he expected the local conditions in the four Tests, beginning on February 23 in Pune, to be "unpredictable".
"It turns more and it's unpredictable turn, from the middle of the wicket it can go relatively straight by the looks of it. But out of the foot marks or wide of the centre of the wicket, it can really spin, and quite aggressively. It will be trusting our defence and seeing how we can go," he said.
Just how the tourists handle India's frontline spinning pair of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will be the key to the series. If they can survive, then flourish, the chances of scoring their first win on the sub-continent since 2011 will improve dramatically. If not, a run of nine straight Test losses could escalate.
"I haven't played, obviously, any Test cricket in India before, a little bit of IPL, but I dare say the wickets will be a bit different. It will be good to see what they are like and it will be about assessing the conditions as quickly as we can and going from there," Handscomb said.
"I will be looking to use my feet and be positive going either forward or back to the spinners. Obviously, finding a game plan there and sticking to it. Hopefully, scoring a few runs."
That he has done so far in his four Tests, thumping 399 runs at 99.75, with two centuries. But his toughest challenge now awaits. While he hasn't played Test cricket in India, Handscomb did take part on the 2015 Australia A tour, when he made 91 in the first of two first-class matches but failed in the second.
"I learnt more to back my own game plan, back my skills, try not to be too worried about what the ball is doing off the wicket and still be confident coming down the track but also playing off back the foot and if I need to sweep, try and sweep as well," he said.
Australia began a two-day intra-squad match on Friday, and will head to Mumbai on Monday ahead of a three-day warm-up clash there against India A.
The locals have named three uncapped spinners – Krishnappa Gowtham, Shahbaz Nadeem and Kuldeep Yadav – in a 15-man squad for the match, beginning next Friday.