Warner: 'We've got our plans against Ashwin'

While hoping he wouldn’t see Ashwin at 100 %, opening batsman David Warner has also warned his team-mates not to concentrate too much on facing the on-song off-spinner.

After the practice match, Warner insisted the Australian outfit has had an ideal build-up for the series.

R. Ashwin’s admission of him not being at his best during India’s long home season has sent shivers down the Australian camp. While hoping he wouldn’t see Ashwin at 100 %, opening batsman David Warner has also warned his team-mates not to concentrate too much on facing the on-song off-spinner.

"Well if he says he's bowling at 60 to 70 %. then Jesus, what else has he got?” Warner said with a chuckle after Australia’s only warm-up game ahead of the first Test, to be played in Pune from Thursday. 24 or 25 five-fors. In the last 12 months, bowling at 60 to 70%. I’d hate to see 100% then.

Shreyas Iyer Audio

"We’ve got our plans. Everyone’s got their plans against Ashwin. He is a very, very good bowler. We understand that. And the other thing as well is there’s other bowlers that we have to be mindful of. So we know that he will play a crucial a role in this, but as I’ve always said we just have to adapt to the conditions and assess when we're out there."

Even though the Australian spinners got a battering from Shreyas Iyer and K. Gowtham in the warm-up game, Warner insisted the Australian outfit has had an ideal build-up for the series.

“Look the guys had a great hit-out in Dubai. We trained fantastically, we trained hard. Miles in the legs. And that’s probably a great thing – we are fortunate and grateful for that opportunity,” he said.

“The guys are in a great frame of mind, we are ready to go. We are pumped. And it’s been a much-anticipated series so we are really looking forward to getting out there.”

Lyon was rattled, says Iyer. Despite playing around with Nathan Lyon and Stephen O’Keefe during his unbeaten 85 on the opening day, Shyreas Iyer had maintained that Lyon especially was posing a lot of problems for the batsmen.

On Sunday, however, Iyer admitted that Lyon was rattled due to K. Gowtham’s onslaught. “He was not that happy when Gowtham came in and started attacking, because he was having an injury. He was really disappointed when he hit him,” said Iyer, the double-centurion.

“He started talking a bit about him. He was asking me ‘who is he?’ He asked me ‘who is this guy’? I told he’s an off-spinner. Later on he also asked me ‘was he acting while fielding’. He was really unhappy.”