Michael Clarke has been a real thorn in India's flesh in recent times and he has no plans to ease off on the gas pedal if he is selected in the Australian squad for the much-awaited Test tour to the sub-continent in October.
"I love playing in India and I don't mind the ball spinning. Hopefully I will be selected and show my ability there, both against pace and spin, not to forget turning my own arm over," said Clarke, the young cricketer from Sydney whom experts are already hailing as the next great from Australia.
Coming at number seven has not deterred Clarke and he has scores of 44, 63, 42, 21, 2, 33 not out and now 42 in successive innings against the Indians. With his left-arm spinners, he has also claimed nine of his seventeen wickets against the Indian batsmen.
In doing so well against India, Clarke has obviously been helped by his coach-manager Neil de Costa who is of Indian origin. It was De Costa who literally made him pick up a bat for the first time at the tender age of nine.
"Yes, his parents are Indians and we did a lot of work playing spin bowling. But then I have also been brought up playing a lot of spin. My wickets at home are a little slower than the other wickets you commonly find in Australia.
{{/usCountry}}"Yes, his parents are Indians and we did a lot of work playing spin bowling. But then I have also been brought up playing a lot of spin. My wickets at home are a little slower than the other wickets you commonly find in Australia.
{{/usCountry}}"So there has been not much different preparation. I just kept continuing doing what I was doing," said Clarke.