'Always found him difficult to play even in T20s': Watson singles out unknown villain for Australia ahead of India Tests

Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Australia's biggest challenge on this tour of India would be negating India's spin threat of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.

The much-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia was supposed to be a contest expected to start on an even keel but days before the series opener in Nagpur, the odds seems to have tilted slightly in favour of the hosts. Already without Mitchell Starc, Australia will now miss the services of Josh Hazlewood, whose untimely injury has not only ruled him out of the first Test but also put him in doubt for the second. Australia are fretting over his replacement, mulling between a like-for-like replacement in Scott Boland or an additional spinner in perhaps Todd Murphy, with Nathan Lyon and Ashton Agar almost confirmed.

Shane Watson has cautioned Australia against a player they haven't seen much of (Getty/BCCI)

But their headache doesn't end there. Australia's biggest challenge on this tour of India would be negating India's spin threat of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. All the preparations – the Ashwin lookalike, batting on custom pitches, a firm stance on not playing tour games – it all boils down to this. Ashwin and Jadeja were key performers for India the last time Australia toured India for a Test series 6 years ago in 2017 and the Aussies' task won't be any easier this time around with Axar in the mix as well.

Australia will be wary of Axar in particular as he is one bowler most of their batters haven't face. And given how the left-arm spinner has tormented visiting sides since his debut in early 2021, Australia need to be extra careful of him. The likes of Steve Smith, David Warner and Usman Khawaja have tackled Axar in T20Is, but in Tests, let alone at home, he becomes a beast. However, as someone who has batted against him in the past, former all-rounder Shane Watson has cautioned Australia against the threat posed by Axar, more so because he is very unknown to them.

"Axar's angle is what makes him really hard to line up. I didn't face him in Test cricket but I always found him really difficult to play even in T20 cricket because of his release point. He's not low round arm, but he's round arm and he bowls from quite wide on the crease, and with the angle that the ball comes in I was never able to really line it up," Watson told ESPNCricinfo.

"And then if the ball is turning it just seems like the ball is turning a lot more because of the angle. It's different to Jadeja because Jadeja is normally a bit closer to the stumps and he doesn't create as much angle with the ball coming into the right-hander from his release point."

Axar has an incredible record of 47 wickets in only 8 Tests. He burst onto the scene against England in February of 2021 picking up 7 wickets on his debut in Chennai. He followed it with 11 wickets in Ahmedabad, the day-night Test that finished inside 2 days. Ever since, Axar has been on a roll ransacking opponents, having already grabbed five 5-wicket-hauls and one 10-wicket match haul. He has been impeccable with his line and length and Axar's release point thanks to his height is what makes the ball dart in and skid through, something the Australian will not find easy to combat.

"Axar is at the stumps all the time. It's going to be pretty challenging. He's a fair bit taller and his release point is still pretty high. But you don't feel like his bounce is a threat as much because he does get balls to skid through. The guys playing are going to have to get used to that angle and find a way to be able to line that up. Once the guys line it up they'll be okay, but it can take a bit of time to work that out," added Watson.