Adamant on sticking to pace despite the dustbowls that await them, Australia's acting head coach Steve Rixon on Saturday said his team's success in the upcoming Test series against India would depend a lot on how quickly it adapts to local conditions, says a report in Deccan Chronicle.
According to the report Rixon said, "Teams are going to play a lot of competitive cricket. This wicket is something that the Indian boys play very well on. We will have to learn to adapt to these very quickly. The purpose of our coming early is to get acclimatised as quickly as possible.".
Rixon said the visitors are prepared for the famous spinning wickets but hoped that the pitches would not be "anywhere near what they faced in Sri Lanka" last month. "I certainly don't see green surface appearing. The reality is, it will be a good wicket. To start with it will have a little bit of pace but as the game goes on, it will definitely be advantage to the spinners," he said.
According to a report in The Hindu, Rixon said, "But I'm sure it will not be anywhere near as bad as some of the wickets we had seen in Sri Lanka. You have to get the feel of the climate, there are facilities you have to deal with. Last things is, you have to get the feel of the wickets we would be playing on...thats the biggest thing. It is a little bit different in India and different in Pakistan and few of the other Asian countries. So we will have to learn to how to deal with that. Coming out of South Africa, West Indies and Sri Lanka tour, it is just about how we deal with the Indian conditions...it's going to be tough but we will give ourselves a chance as we had a good preparation."
Asked whether Australia would look to field a three-pace and two-spinner attack in the opening Test in Chennai, Rixon said, "We got to use our strength, which has to be the fast bowling department. I always suggest that while you have got five very good bowlers who bowls at 140 to 145 an hour and on occasions 150, on variable bouncing wickets, they can just stand as spinners. This is probably our strength. We will probably stay with our strength and I think those guys would be our frontline."
Meanwhile according to a report in The Times Of India, Glenn Maxwell has been the talk of the town ever since he became the most expensive player at the IPL auction last week. The all-rounder, who arrived in the city on Saturday night, has become the latest 'million-dollar man' in the IPL and Australia's fielding coach Steve Rixon feels there will be pressure on the 24-year-old to live up to that expectations that come with a hefty price tag. "Glenn obviously is delighted about his IPL price tag. But it puts lot of pressure on him. All eyes will be on him and he has to perform."
Rixon added that the team would have to ensure that Maxwell doesn't let the pressure get to him, and added that he was confident the Victorian would do well. "From an administrative point of view, we have to make sure that he stays calm and actually stays with the programme we've set him, which is to become a very good spinner and advance his batting, which needs a bit of curbing at times. He can be one of the best fielders in world cricket as well. He just needs to keep his head. If he does that he will get good results for Australia and Mumbai Indians as well."