Australia is currently 2-0 down in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in India, where touring teams have struggled with the heavily turning wickets. India has developed a strong pace attack in response to the green tracks in SENA nations. However, visiting teams have struggled to match India’s quality spin bowlers, such as Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel. Except for Nathan Lyon, Australian spinners have struggled in Indian conditions for some time. Here are the Test records of three Australian spinners with the poorest performances in India.
#1 Xavier Doherty
Left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty, known for his white-ball exploits, has a poor Test record in India with only four appearances, two of which were in India. He struggled to contain Indian batters in his first game, picking up only three wickets, while Ravichandran Ashwin and Glenn Maxwell outperformed him. He went wicketless in the first innings of his last Test match, leading to his being benched for the next game. Although successful in limited overs, his Test record in India could be better.
#2 Nathan Hauritz
Australian off-spinner Nathan Hauritz had a decent Test career, but his bowling average of 44.81 in three matches played in India suggests that he could have done better. Despite a successful start with five wickets in his first game, including those of Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, he could only add six more in his next two games while being expensive. His last Test appearance in India was in 2010 in Bangalore, where he picked up only three wickets across both innings in a high-scoring match.
#3 Brad Hogg
Brad Hogg, the left-arm leg-spinner, has played only one Test match in India and picked up just one wicket. He debuted in the only Test match of Australia’s 1996 tour of India in Delhi and was expensive in his only outing with the ball. However, Hogg became one of Australia’s most reliable limited-overs bowlers in his career.
