Peter Handscomb was picked in the squad of Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the only reason that he plays spin very well. He was not part of the Australia vs South Africa series squad. Peter has been to India eight times. He says his game improved against spin after looking at Rahane’s method of play. They both met each other during the IPL 2016.
Peter Handscomb on Rahane said that
“He was playing these shots off his back foot through midwicket which I thought were ridiculous,””I was like, wow I need someone to teach me that. So we spoke about getting his front leg out of the way and being able to manipulate the ball from there. That helps your back foot become a scoring zone, and then if they overpitch, you can hopefully score off the front foot as well. Then all their good balls you just find a way to defend,”
He further added that
“India personally outplayed me in that situation. They gave me my scoring gap. But without the reward, so it was just going to be a single. And tempted me to hit the ball there. And I fell for that and tried to manipulate the ball there when had that been my third ball of the first innings. I would have just tried to defend. I was still trying to understand the pitch and what was going on,”
“For me, it’s just about being stronger and starting again. I probably walked out there thinking ‘I’m still on 72 not out, I can just pick up where I left off’, and you can’t think like that. It was learning what I could and couldn’t do in subcontinent tours with no repercussions. I get to try all this. It’s just so different to back home, where bounce is key for spin. So tours are crucial.”
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