Everyone thought Jadeja’s absence would weaken India but Axar was outstanding: McDonald

Left-arm
spinner
Axar,
who
was
shoed
in
as
a
like-for-like
replacement
for
the
injured
Jadeja,
impressed
everyone
with
his
bowling,
ending
as
the
leading
wicket-taker
in
the
three-match
series.

“Axar,
in
particular,
had
an
outstanding
series.
With
Jaddu
out
everyone
thought
that
it
might
become
a
bit
of
a
weakness
for
India,
but
they’ve
found
another
one
again,
which
tends
to
happen,”
McDonald
said
at
the
post-match
press
conference
after
India
clinched
the
series.

The
Australian
bowling
attack,
comprising
the
pace
duo
of
Pat
Cummins
and
Josh
Hazlewood,
was
taken
to
the
cleaners
by
the
Indian
batters.

Asked
if
it’s
a
concern
heading
to
the
World
Cup,
McDonald
said:
“Across
the
series
the
run
rate
was
high,
it
was
entertaining
cricket
from
the
get-go.
Bat
dominated
the
ball,
so
there
was
really
no
place
to
hide
for
bowling
units,
in
particular
death.

“We
worked
our
way
through
some
plans.
We
saw
some
good
results
with
some
of
the
plans
that
we
implemented
that
might
be
able
to
transition
to
the
World
Cup.”

McDonald
added
that
Australia
will
have
reinforcements
in
the
form
of
Mitchell
Starc
when
they
begin
the
defense
of
their
World
Cup
title
at
home
next
month.

“The
connection
between
here
(India)
and
Australia
might
be
slightly
different,
a
little
bit
more
bounce,
different
tactics.
Mitchell
Starc
comes
back
into
the
picture
being
one
of
our
best
death
bowlers.
So,
we
feel
like
we’ll
get
reinforcements
there.”

McDonald
feels
most
of
the
bowling
attack
is
“under
the
pump”
due
to
the
skills
of
the
batters.

“The
conversations
always
going
to
be
can
you
get
better
at
your
death
bowling?
The
answer
to
that
is
yes.

“We
encourage
our
guys
to
make
good
decisions
and
execute
them.
Sometimes
the
batter
out-executes
you
and
we’ve
seen
that
with
Hardik
(Pandya)
across
the
series.

“Suryakumar
Yadav
was
outstanding
today
and
he’s
gonna
be
dangerous
in
the
World
Cup
but
he
showed
what
he
can
do.”

Australia
were
without
a
few
of
their
World
Cup-bound
players
due
to
injuries
but
the
head
coach
feels
the
defending
champions
have
enough
depth
to
overcome
the
situation.

“It’s
fortuitous
that
some
of
the
guys
got
the
opportunity
here.
We
got
a
couple
of
injuries
which
are
concerning
leading
into
a
World
Cup.
You
don’t
like
to
see
some
of
your
mainstay
players
out
of
the
team
leading
in
but
we
feel
as
though
we’ve
got
some
good
options
in
depth.”

In
the
absence
of
David
Warner,
who
was
rested,
Cameron
Green
“embraced
the
challenge
of
opening”.
The
all-rounder
amassed
118
runs,
including
two
belligerent
half-centuries
to
give
Australia
great
starts.

“I’ve
asked
him
to
show
great
intent
on
top
of
the
order
and
everything
that
we’re
seeing
so
far
shows
that
he’s
doing
that.

“It’s
probably
opportunistic
the
way
that
he’s
come
into
the
opening
position
with
obviously
David
Warner
not
being
here
and
a
couple
of
other
players
from
our
World
Cup
15.

“And
that’s
all
you
can
do,
given
an
opportunity…
Before
we
came
over
here
we
thought
he
had
the
skill
sets
to
be
able
to
succeed
there,
and
he’s
taken
on
some
of
the
best
bowlers
in
world
cricket.”