Watson: I think Pant is going to have a big series in Australia

What would India’s last two Test tours of Australia look like without Cheteshwar Pujara? The man who copped blow after blow, batted hours on end, and made Australia’s bowlers sick of the sight of him is no longer part of India’s set-up. But as far as former Australia allrounder Shane Watson is concerned, India’s newer-looking Test side, with its dynamic batting options, will continue to make life difficult for Australia when they make the trip for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy later this year.

“I don’t see it [India’s batting dynamic] changing a lot,” Watson said on the sidelines of the launch of the International Masters League in Mumbai on Tuesday. “The thing when you talk about Pujara, for example, is he just doesn’t make a mistake. Whereas you’ve seen so many of these incredible batters for India – top-order batters, someone like [Yashasvi] Jaiswal, he’s scored runs very quickly, but he hasn’t made a mistake.”

Pujara tallied 792 runs – and, more vitally, faced 2186 deliveries – in 15 innings across the two tours in 2018-19 and 2020-21, as India did in back-to-back visits what they had never done before: win a Test series in Australia. Although Jaiswal would appear to be from a very different school of batting – as evidenced by a strike rate of 71.67 after 11 Tests, and fifties at better than a run-a-ball in both innings of India’s most recent Test – Watson reckons the 22-year-old’s ability to bat long will challenge the Australian bowling attack.

“He hasn’t really given the opposition a chance to be able to get him out,” Watson said. “I think if those type of batters come out to Australia and play aggressively – just put the bad balls away and put pressure on the Aussie bowlers – then they can still have the same effect, and they keep the game moving as well.”

Watson clubbed Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant as the Indian batters who could pose serious threats to Australia over the course of the five-match series, which begins in Perth from November 22.

“For me, with the calibre of batters that India have got and the skill they’ve got, there’s no reason why they can’t combine that: putting pressure on bowlers, score quickly, but also not make mistakes, which we’ve seen those Indian batters, in particular Jaiswal [do],” Watson said. “And we’ve seen Rishabh Pant come in and do it as well – take the game on, but also don’t give the opposition many opportunities to get them out.”

Pant has 624 runs to his name from 12 Test innings in Australia – while maintaining a strike rate of 72.13 – and Watson, unsurprisingly, picked Pant and Jasprit Bumrah as the two players Australia need to be most wary of.

“He’s [Pant] obviously got great memories from his last tour that he had from a batting perspective in Australia,” Watson said. “That innings he played at the Gabba was something very special. So knowing that he’s come through his challenges in the last couple of years to be able to come back as an even better player than what he left off, I think he’s going to have a big series.

“Also, Bumrah is someone who in Australian conditions – well, in all conditions really – he’s so good. [With] his ability to be able to just take wickets and get batters out, he’s going to be very effective in Australia as well. So those two guys, if they have big series, they can really provide Australia some big challenges.”

Bumrah has 32 wickets at 21.25 from seven Tests in Australia. He missed the last Test of the 2020-21 series due to an injury, but will head into his third tour of Australia as the mainstay of India’s bowling attack even as they await the return of Mohammed Shami from a long injury layoff.