Beware of Indian pace trio

Australias bowling which features a settled and successful top four is a major plus but the batting is a concern for the current World Test ChampionsThey are missing the ebullient David Warnerrsquos ability to harass opponents with his aggression as an opener There is no likeforlike opener to replace Warner and what Australia has now is an unbalanced batting lineupBy promoting Steve Smith to open so they could include two allrounders they are now left with a query at the top and an overabundance of aggression in the middleorderThe preference is to have a strong top six but itrsquos ideal when that batting order is balancedAlso Read KohliKarthik guide RCB to fourwicket win against PunjabSmith is still Australiarsquos best batsman but at No 4 not opening As former Australian captain Tim Paine wisely noted ldquoIf Irsquom the opposition I want him Smith openingrdquoJasprit Bumrah and Mohd ShamiSmithmdashlike all playersmdashis more vulnerable against the new ball Hersquoll occasionally succeed because hersquos a very good player but hersquos unlikely to produce the consistently high scores he did in his hey day at four An Australian order with Smith at four has the solid look that provides confidence things will still be okay even if they go astray at the topThe problem is if Smith bats four where do you play Cameron Green who is a must for Australia Who would then open Australiarsquos most perplexing selection headache is the opening situationmdashthere are no obvious replacements for WarnerAustralian opener Usman Khawajamdasha middleorder batsman for his Sheffield Shield side Queenslandmdashis proof there is a paucity of top order candidates at State level However if you pick a new opener and play Green while batting Smith at four then the likelihood is you have to omit Travis Head Head has had success in the Test side but Green is a better proposition both for the present and the futureThe pairing of Head and Mitchell Marsh means Australiarsquos middleorder is heavily reliant on attacking batting The fall back position that Smith providedmdashan ability to rebuild methodicallymdashis missingAlso Read Ray of light for outoffavour Kishan as BCCI secy Shah chats with him post gameThe reason both Marsh and Head vigorously attack the opposition is because their aggression covers up their technical failings Their aggression has worked against the lesser sides but will it succeed against strong sides like IndiaIf Marsh and Head have to try and dig Australia out of trouble against Jasprit Bumrah Mohammad Shami and Mohammad Siraj in next summerrsquos Test series Down Under thatrsquoll be a concern Rest assured a vulnerable Australian top order will find itself in trouble if that Indian trio is fit and firingThis is a situation with which the modern bowlers have to cope They are going to face more aggressive batting from the opposition and that is a part of a modern Test bowlerrsquos life At the moment the best bowlers are most likely to cope but teams need to focus on unearthing lesser performers who have found a method that deals with the aggressive approachRelentlessly attacking the new ball and succeeding against good bowlers is an extremely rare skill and this was one of Warnerrsquos strengths Thatrsquos why Australia is desperately missing his undoubted talentAnother aspect of the Australian team that will encourage opponents was their batting failure against the West Indies pace attack especially newcomer Shamar Joseph Once that type of susceptibility is established itrsquos very difficult to reverse the trend as it encourages opponents This was a situation that rarely existed when Smith at four and Warner were dominating Australiarsquos battingThe Test success of India Australia and more recently England highlights the financial problems that torment the long form of the game If the Big Three are able to continue rewarding their Test players handsomely but the remainder struggle financially itrsquos does nothing for the competitiveness of an already ailing long form of the gameThe Test World Championship is a grand idea However it will quickly lose glamour status if the Big Three dominate the coveted battle for the winnerrsquos mace