Cricket News: Andrew McDonald talks about India’s lower order contribution

India has a strong depth in its batting, according to Australian coach Andrew McDonald. This could end up being the deciding factor between India and Australia for the remaining 3 fixtures.

India completely dominated the opening Test against Australia in just three days, complete control from the get-go. The Indian spin team of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin completely perplexed Australian batsmen.

Jadeja amassed his five-wicket haul in the first innings, and Ashwin finished things off with his fifer in the second. Rohit Sharma's brilliant 120-run innings in the first Test helped him become the game's first and only centurion.

The 35-year-old played a captain's knock by outplaying the Australian bowlers in challenging playing conditions. Jadeja and Axar Patel both scored vital half century to give India a comfortable advantage.

A significant portion of the host nation's first innings score was provided by India's lower order. India was bowled out for 400 runs, with players batting at No. 7 or lower contributing over half of those runs.

This statistic demonstrates how much more the lower-order Indian batters have given to their team than the lower-order Australian batters did.

The head coach of Australia, Andrew McDonald, discussed India's middle order batting with SEN Radio. McDonald said:

"Their (India's) lower-order batting is also going to be a differentiator in this series in (Ravindra) Jadeja, (Axar) Patel and (Ravichandran) Ashwin, they've got a really strong lower-order and we're going to be challenged by that."

He also clarified the diminished role of the Australian lower tier.

"They're no doubt going to have more runs available to their lower order than ours, so we've got to try to work out how to break even in that sense,"

The 41-year-old concluded.

The second Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia is scheduled to take place in New Delhi on February 17.

There is much discussion on Australia's starting lineup for this match, and there are rumours that the team management may be considering handing the in-form Travis Head another chance in the sub-continent at the expense of David Warner.

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