Australia skipper Pat Cummins on Thursday asserted that his team has a “plan” to tackle Indian spinners in the opening Cricket World Cup match, saying the victory in the third ODI at Rajkot had made the bunch a “confident” lot ahead of the blockbuster clash here on Sunday.
India won the three-match series 2-1, but Australia won the Rajkot tie by 66 runs after notching a mammoth 352.
Cummins indicated the confidence stemmed from the fact that the Australians had played Indian spinners in the past and done well.
“It (preparation) starts with training for the next few days before the game. The Australian guys play a lot of spin. Our batting order had played a lot in India and done well, so they know most of the (Indian) bowlers and they have a plan in place.”“We are really confident. We had a good win in the third ODI (in Rajkot), which is probably a bit closer to our strongest XI. We have had pretty good records in ODIs in India. Cummins will bank on his “aggressive” opener David Warner and “key player” Glenn Maxwell to guide them to another triumph at the World Cup here.
While Warner, 36, has struggled for form in the last couple of years, he has peaked at the right time, having scored 390 runs in nine innings this year at an average of 43.33 and a strike rate of 119.26, including four half-centuries and a ton.
During the recent ODI series in India, Warner was in blazing form, scoring three consecutive half-centuries and making him the one to watch out for even as speculation over his retirement plans swirls all around.
“Dave’s (Warner) been fantastic in the last month, particularly in white-ball cricket. Not only is he scoring runs, he is being aggressive. He is taking the game on and getting the innings off to a great start,” Cummins said.
