What did victory over India tell us about Australia's present and future? – T20 IPL 2024

Australia’s 3-1 series victory over India was comfortable in the end but there were moments when they were severely tested. Jasprit Bumrah was the major headache for Australia and the pitches overall were difficult for batting. There were some strong performances from some incumbents but others were not terribly influential. The bench strength was a major factor in the wins in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. Here are some of the key takeaways from the series with an eye towards the upcoming Sri Lanka tour, the World Test Championship final, a tour of the West Indies and the Ashes next summer.

How long can Khawaja play?

Usman Khawaja has bristled at the thought of retirement any time it has been raised publicly. Despite turning 38 during the series he has declared age is just a number and he has no timeline on when he will finish. His series on the whole was not good. He scored 184 runs at 20.44, passing 20 just four times with one half-century in Melbourne and an important 41 in Sydney. It was a difficult series for top-order batters. But Yashasvi Jaiswal was the second leading scorer for the series with 391 at 43.44, KL Rahul averaged 30.66 and Sam Konstas averaged 28.25 in four innings. Marnus Labuschagne was under pressure throughout but averaged 25.77 with three half-centuries.

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Australia’s hierarchy will argue that Khawaja had one problem, which was Bumrah. He fell to him six times for 33 runs from 112 deliveries faced. He was 3 for 93 off 141 against Mohammed Siraj, falling twice to the pull shot against him. He scored 58 off 124 without losing his wicket to the five other India bowlers he faced. Some of the deliveries he got from Bumrah were unplayable, but the last one that got him on the first night in Sydney was not one of them, where he played back to a very full ball that did not appear to deviate off the seam.

To say he only has a Bumrah problem also masks the fact that he has averaged 28.68 in his last 24 Test innings. But his captain Pat Cummins believes Khawaja is playing as well as ever and can continue as long as he wants while he’s still contributing.

“I felt very comfortable when he was out there batting,” Cummins said after the win Sydney. “He looked so assured. We said it with Nathan McSweeney as well, it doesn’t get any harder than opening batting on these pitches against a quality bowling attack. It’s the hardest job in cricket, and I thought he looked really good at times. Sometimes he got some really good balls. He looks like he’s batting as well as any other time. So probably, overall, [he] didn’t get the runs he would have liked but you get an innings like today where he just shows his maturity and experience is so valuable. He took some good catches in the field as well. Still moving all right. No end date from our end. We’ll see as long as he’s still scoring some runs.”

He did take some good slip catches late in the series but also dropped a couple in Perth. He was long thought to be needed in Sri Lanka given he was far and away Australia’s best batter across the three tours to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India in 2022 and 2023. He was also Australia’s leading run-scorer in the 2023 Ashes in England and his experience in those conditions would suggest he will be valuable for the WTC final.

Beyond that, Australia have three Tests in the West Indies in June-July at the start of a new WTC cycle before the home 2025-26 Ashes where Khawaja will turn 39 during the third Test in Adelaide. Time will tell whether age is just a number for him.

Webster and Green in the same XI?

Beau Webster‘s performance in Sydney was significant. He looked the most assured batter on both sides in difficult conditions. He bowled 17 overs including 13 in the first innings, which is more than Mitchell Marsh has bowled in a Test innings since 2019. He only took one wicket but he had three catches spilled in the cordon. He also took two very sharp catches in the slips.

It is hard to see how Marsh plays in front of Webster again in the short term. He is also two years younger, without physical issues and can bowl offspin on top of his medium pace. Cameron Green is recovering well from his back surgery and there is an outside chance he could play Test cricket as a batter only in the winter before being cleared to bowl later in the year. In that scenario there is almost certainly a chance the two could feature in the same side. And even when Green returns to bowl, both men could continue to play together given Green’s success at No. 4 in the four Tests he played there last year. It would be an incredible luxury for Cummins to have, as it was having Green and Marsh in the same team for a period of time.

“If they’re in the best six batters, but also they can contribute a little bit with the ball, both amazing gully, second, third slip fielders as well,” Cummins said. “Absolutely, just because [Webster is] an allrounder doesn’t mean that you can’t have two of them.”

But the question would be how to reshape the top six to accommodate both given the issues Australia faced last year with the same conundrum. Webster is a true No. 6 as he showed in his debut and in his recent Sheffield Shield success. Steven Smith’s successful return to No. 4 and Travis Head’s brilliance at No. 5 creates a headache for the selectors.

It is very unlikely Smith will open again after his brief experiment and Head will likely only ever open in the subcontinent. Smith could move back up to No. 3 given Labuschagne’s form and his record there as a short-term option. Australia’s selectors will only make a decision when they need to. That moment could come as soon as June.

Boland’s bid to be first-choice

Scott Boland has 56 Test wickets at 17.66. Yet, when Josh Hazlewood returns to full fitness he could well be left out of the best XI as he has been many times before. Boland played the last WTC final in 2023 when the selectors opted not to risk Hazlewood after injury, but the only time he has played when the big three were all officially available was the Edgbaston Ashes Test which followed when Mitchell Starc was left out.

“He’s so good, Scotty. I love him,” Cummins said. “Whenever he comes in you just know he’s a seasoned pro. He’s been doing it for years for Victoria, and he’s well and truly good enough in Test cricket. He proves it time, time again. As a captain he’s a dream, because he just loves bowling. He bowls uphill into the wind a lot of time as well so his figures are probably better than what they show. But you just know what you’re going to get from Scotty and it’s class every day.”

What Australia’s selectors can learn from this series is they can be more calculated and less biased towards incumbency in the immediate future, especially for next year’s Ashes. Boland’s contribution in Melbourne and Sydney especially, combined with Hazlewood’s injuries and Starc’s soreness by the end, showed the value of fresh legs late in a five-Test series. England proved that in 2023 when they brought in Mark Wood and Chris Woakes for the final three Tests and the pair dominated Australia.

The concern for Australia is that Boland is 35 and managing a long-term knee issue. Starc turns 35 this month. Hazlewood is 34 on Wednesday and has mounting injury concerns. Australia’s other favoured back-up quick Michael Neser turns 35 in March and has missed two months this summer with a significant hamstring injury. Sean Abbott (32), Brendan Doggett (30), and Nathan McAndrew (31) are the next most durable trio.

Jhye Richardson (28), Lance Morris (26), Xavier Bartlett (26), and Spencer Johnson (29), are viewed as Australia’s next generation of red-ball quicks but none have anywhere near the durability of Cummins, Boland and Starc at the moment. Fergus O’Neill is 23, and has dominated Shield cricket without any injury concerns. But his average speeds are under 130kph, meaning any opportunity at Test level, rightly or wrongly, would likely be conditions based.

Looking to the future

Australia only fielded two players under 30 for the entire series against India but neither of them featured together with 19-year-old Konstas replacing McSweeney, 25, after three Tests. But despite concerns about the age of the side and when a transition should occur, it seems it may already be underway.

Konstas’ debut was a breath of fresh air despite some of the reactions to it. McSweeney will likely get another opportunity at some point and showed signs of being capable at Test level despite getting Bumrah’d. Green will return with a reinforced spine, aged 26. Todd Murphy is likely to return in Sri Lanka and is only 24. Josh Inglis, 29, is being looked at as a batting option for Sri Lanka and is four years younger than Alex Carey. Webster is 31 but has a lot of good cricket ahead of him. Richardson’s return to fitness is promising and the selectors have confidence he can play sooner rather than later, although his injury history will always cast a shadow.

The selectors have not shown a desire to retire anyone early in order to hasten the transition. Cummins said the future is constantly being discussed and believes it will happen organically.

“We’ve had three debutants this series,” Cummins said. “You’re always balancing between kind of the here and now, but also you’ve got a bit of an idea to the future. So they’re conversations that we always have. I don’t think there’s any point in doing things just for the sake of it. So those can play out over the next couple of years. But of course, we’re always thinking about that.”

Alex Malcolm is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo

Source: ESPN Crickinfo