Jones believes it is vital for Australia to be in full control at all times

Former Australia batsman Dean Jones has revealed his top tips to being successful on the spin-friendly pitches of India ahead of the national team’s tour to the subcontinent nation.

Jones noted that the Australian batsmen must practice and get accustomed to the conditions of the country in order to stand any chance of toppling the Indians in their own backyard.

“The Australian batsmen must start preparing now by practising on substandard practice pitches,” Jones wrote in his article for the Sydney Morning Herald. “These will find your weakness very quickly and will really make you watch the ball.

“When you play against quality spinners, you must have mental courage to be successful. And your footwork, or bottom half of your body, must be supple and nimble to move quickly to get to the pitch of the ball.”

Jones also stated that the Australian batsmen should come down the track and attack the Indian spinners as much as possible in order to keep them under pressure and not allow them to settle at all.

“I quickly realised that spinners don’t like you running at them,” Jones added. “They say they do, but in reality they don’t. I measured how far I could dance down the pitch. It was 2.8 metres.”

The first stride towards the ball is key according to Jones as this gets the batsman into a solid position and allows him to place the ball wherever he likes.

“I also learnt that I must always make my first stride to the ball a big one,” Jones said. “No half-steps. Mark Waugh was awesome at this. Graham Yallop, Allan Border, Brian Lara and Michael Clarke are no different.”

Mental focus is another vital aspect for all batsmen as Jones believes if they think they are going to get out, then they probably will.

“I often think batting against spinners is a bit like playing chess,” Jones added. “If you are worried about bat-pad fieldsmen catching you out, then you must strike up a plan to remove them.

“It might be a lofted shot over mid-off, which might get rid of the bat-pad on the offside. And a few sweep shots might get rid of the silly mid-on and he might be placed at backward square or short fine leg.”

All in all, the former batsman stated that the Australians needed to be in control at all times and not allow the Indians to even get a glimpse of an opening to turn the match around.

“Tactically, spinners love bowling maidens,” Jones said. “So you must look to hurt them early in their over. Don’t allow them to bowl when they want. Control the momentum and tempo of the game and let them bowl to you when you are ready. You are the boss and let them know that.”