Glenn McGrath, the great Australian fast bowler, considered by many to be the best bowler in the history of the game is not somebody known for holding his punches. Only last year, McGrath predicted a 5-0 defeat of England under the hands of Australia in the Ashes Down Under. He was laughed at when he did as England had already beaten Australia 3-0 at home. But Glenn’s words proved prophetic as Australia blanked out England 5-0 with Mitchell Johnson emerging as the world’s premier fast bowler, even greater than South Africa’s Dale Steyn.
With India visiting Australia later this year for a 4-match Test series, McGrath came out strongly with another daring prediction, saying that India were certain to lose 4-0 if Australia maintained the same intensity shown by them against England. Says McGrath: “For India to be competitive in the upcoming Australia series, a lot of things have to change. We saw, as you mentioned, England when they toured Australia last year, they were well and truly beaten 5-0. Now they have well and truly beaten India 3-1. It’s going to be a tough series for India in Australia.”
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“If Australia play anywhere near as they have been, then they are going to be really tough to beat. To be honest, I can’t see India winning a Test match, so my prediction is as it usually is – I predict Australia to win and win 4-0. It’s up to the Indian team to prove me wrong and to somehow find some way to turn around their form. Their fielding, their batting, their bowling [to a degree], they’ve got a lot of work to do in the next few months.”
McGrath praised India’s Man-of-the-Series for the Investec Test Series, medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, saying: “He’s done well. [He] bowls pretty good areas, he swings the ball and has got the knack of taking wickets, too. So it’s all about playing at this level, being successful, believing in yourself and then being able to improve and learn from every game you play.”
McGrath was extremely critical of India’s performance in England, saying that India failed to follow even the basics of cricket and failed on every account. He was full of praise for Varun Aaron, India’s new fast bowling sensation who was one of India’s few positives to take out of the Investec Test series.
“It could have been better, no doubt about that. I have enjoyed Varun Aaron coming in, bowling with a bit more pace. Ishant Sharma has always promised a lot, he’s still taking wickets, but unfortunately, he’s had a few injury worries, his pace has dropped down. Pankaj Singh looks raw but has a lot of potential. As a unit they could have bowled better but they did create quite a few chances. That’s what you have to do at that level. But you can’t afford to drop 3-4 catches in every Test match. If you do that, you’re not going to win any. Overall, the bowling was 7-7.5 out of 10.”
McGrath insisted that India simply had to persevere with Varun Aaron as he was India’s only out and out fast bowler and rest were medium pacers. He stressed on the importance of bowling fast and how important it was for India to encourage their pace bowlers to bowl at their fastest.
“I think India’s biggest problem has always been that they haven’t got an express, out-and-out fast bowler,” McGrath said. “I mentioned Varun Aaron, who bowls good pace, but the rest, you can say, are probably medium-pacers, so then you’ve got to be able to swing the ball, you’ve got to be able to build pressure.
“I’ve done a bit of work with Varun at the MRF pace foundation. I’ve been impressed with his attitude and the way he goes about things. The thing that is special about him is that pace. He has to bowl 145-plus, up around that 150 km mark. He can’t afford to lose that, so the one thing he doesn’t want to do, and what most bowlers really shouldn’t be doing, is trading pace for something else. You need that control, no doubt about that, but you need to keep what makes you so special. So for someone like Varun Aaron, he needs to be bowling 145-150 kph for him to be in the Indian team.“
