For Nathan McSweeney, watching videos of Virat Kohli and Steve Smith has proved extremely beneficial. The 27-year-old is coming off a successful one-day series for Australia A against India A, having scored 194 runs to emerge as his team’s highest run-scorer in the three-game contest, which the visitors won 2-1.
Kohli and Smith have been influential in shaping the careers of several up-and-coming cricketers. McSweeney, it seems, recognised that succeeding on subcontinental pitches would require him to learn from Smith, who has scored 805 runs in Tests in India at an average of 50.3, and follow his blueprint.
Kohli, meanwhile, has struggled against spin in the latter part of his career. However, before his returns dipped over the past five years, the former India captain was highly effective on slow, turning pitches.
“I think obviously coming to India as an Australian, it’s a heavy spin focus, and you try and work hard and watch the great Indian players on how they play spin,” McSweeney told the host broadcaster.
“[Watching] Virat Kohli on YouTube trying to study how he goes about it, Steve Smith, other Australians that have come over and done really well. So, there are plenty of analysts and data that we are given as well. So, it’s nice to action that out in the middle and execute it fairly well.”
McSweeney was impressive against spin, often charging down the wicket to Anukul Roy, Vipraj Nigam and Nishant Sindhu. His approach proved effective, with the batter falling to spin just once on the tour – to Shams Mulani in the second unofficial Test.
Decent India outing
McSweeney put the disappointment of the preceding four-day matches behind him to produce a Player-of-the-Match performance in the first one-dayer. With Australia reduced to 104/5, McSweeney scored 123 in Puducherry and forged a 141-run partnership with Will Sutherland to take the team total to 274. He got starts in the next two games with 32 and 39. Despite having failed to convert those into big innings, the batter seemed content with what he had achieved in India.
“I’m very pleased to come over here in good conditions and spend some time in the middle, which is always nice, and a series win in India is no easy feat for any international team coming over. It’s a very tough place to come and play cricket against tough competition, always. So, yeah, well done to our boys, and it’s nice to get a series win,” said McSweeney.
McSweeney is yet to play a white-ball match for Australia, though he has represented the national team in three Test matches. The middle-order batter will hope to build on his recent form and earn a limited-overs call-up to the national team.