Melbourne, Feb. 7 (ANI): As the Australian team gears up for the four-match Test series in India, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson has offered his worldly piece of advice to the Steve Smith-led side, saying they have to “adapt quickly” if they want to compete against the Number one-ranked Test side.
“It’s a very tough place to tour. Australia are a very good side and they’ll have to adapt quickly, and well,” cricket.com.au quoted Williamson as saying. “It also depends a lot on the surfaces they may come up against.
The New Zealand skipper, who captained his side while they lost 0-3 in the three-match Test series, also insisted that toss would be very important during the four-match series beginning February 23 in Pune.
The first Test in Pune would be followed by games at Bengaluru (March 4-8), Ranchi (March 16-20) and Dharamsala (March 25-29). It should be noted that Pune, Ranchi and Dharamsala have never hosted a Test and, thus, it would be total interesting to see the kind of surfaces in the three places.
“They (India) have 13 Test matches at home this summer and a lot of the surfaces have been very, very different,” he added.
Ace spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who are current world number one and two in ICC Test Rankings for bowlers, have played significant role in India’s dominance at home in the recent years.
And it would be a herculean task, especially for the Australian batters to tackle the ace spin duo. Also, the fact that Australia have not won a Test in India since 2004 and their last series victory in Asia came against Sri Lanka in 2011, will always be on the minds of Smith and his team.