David Warner expects India to come back harder after a crushing defeat in the opening Test on a rank turner in Pune. Against all expectations, India crashed to a 333-run defeat inside three days to hand Australia a 1-0 lead in the four-Test series.
“We know the leaders India has as well, so they’re always going to come back hard,” said the Aussie opener ahead of the second Test, starting here on Saturday. “And we accept that they’re the No 1 Test team in the world and they’re a great bunch of players and we know what to expect.
“We saw all the tricks in Pune, their bowling changes, their fielding placements, the way they play as a No 1 team. So for us to beat them on home soil was awesome and fantastic but we know they’re going to come back harder and we’ve just got to adapt to the conditions again with what we face here in Bangalore,” he remarked.
Warner said the series defeat to South Africa at home late last year was painful. The loss prompted the overhauling of the composition of the team with many new faces being inducted into the set-up. The results have been encouraging, Australia having won five Tests in a row since their series-losing defeat in Hobart against South Africa.
“Obviously quite painful, that loss at home especially,” said Warner. “They outplayed us, but we’ve moved on from that and Smudge (Steve Smith) got us all together and we galvanised well. We’re sitting here 1-0 up in a four Test match series where no one thought we would win a Test match. We’re proud of where we’ve come but now we’ve got three more Tests to go.
“I think it takes a loss (at Hobart) like that at home sometimes to really get guys going. It’s not that we needed that it’s just the fact it’s a bit of a reality check that one bad session or one bad Test it can be taken away from you even on home soil. For us it was obviously poor cricket in general. We didn’t adapt to the conditions and that’s one thing we’ve done very well here. We’ve had the preparation in Dubai which has been fantastic and we’re grateful for that opportunity and it’s really put us in a really good position,” he explained.
DH News Service
