Jason Gillespie Reveals The Tactics The Australian Team Used To Win Against India In 2004

The Australian team, especially the bowling department, including Jason Gillespie, took lessons from Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, and Sachin Tendulkar to best India in India.

The Australian team changed their bowling tactics to win against India

The former skipper Steve Waugh said that their defeat in India in 2001 was disappointing. However, the only consolation they had was that only the Australian team had come closer than other teams in beating India in India. So, the Australian team took the decisions of changing their bowling tactics. This decision led to their victory in 2004.

Australia claimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy under Adam Gilchrist’s captaincy. In this victory the fast bowlers – Glenn McGarth, Jason Gillespie, and Michael Kasprowicz played crucial roles. This was against the team which had one of the best Test series runs in history.

Jason Gillespie reveals the plan they Australia used to achieve victory

The Australian team decided to change the way they bowl given that the Indian batsmen did not look in discomfort with the bowling plan initially used. Gillespie said that when a team plays in India, they have to adjust their line. This will help them look to play the stumps. This way there is a chance of getting the bowled and LBWs. Hence, they put an extra fielder or two to avoid the batsmen hitting easy boundaries and forced them to take runs. Jason Gillespie believes it was a good plan with the implementation done flawlessly.

“Guys like Laxman, (Rahul) Dravid and (Sachin) Tendulkar, (Virender) Sehwag…when the ball is on the stumps, they can hit the ball anywhere from straight past the bowler to square leg just by the use of their hands, very skillful players.”

“We felt if you put an extra fielder or two on the leg side in catching positions and another defensive position on the fence, you encourage the Indian batsmen to run more between the wickets rather than get those easy boundaries.”