Spinner credits past five months on the road with Aussie squad for helping develop his death bowling skills
Having spent the past five months on the road with the Australian squad to only play two games, four separate rain delays in Perth had Matthew Kuhnemann consigned to not even bowling in his first international match on home soil.
Kuhnemann watched on as Australia’s fast bowlers ripped through India’s top order in the first ODI on Sunday, with the visitors 4-52 when the fourth rain break forced the players from the field for almost an hour.
But when the skies cleared and the match was ultimately reduced to a 26-over contest, quicks Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood had already completed their allotted overs, leaving Kuhnemann the task of closing out the innings with India eyeing a big finish after their earlier collapse.
And it was those months on the road with the Australian squad honing his craft, especially through T20 series against West Indies, South Africa and New Zealand, that the left-arm spinner credited with helping him keep the world’s top-ranked ODI side in check in the death overs.
“At one stage I didn’t think I was going to bowl when we kept coming on and off,” Kuhnemann told reporters post-match.
“Bowling at the end there I knew it was going to be a tough ask, but I’ve been around this group now for a little while, and especially the T20 side of things.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in the last six months on that role in T20 bowling and it came handy today.”
Kuhnemann swung the momentum back in Australia’s favour with an exceptional four-over spell, going his first 20 balls without conceding a boundary while making two key breakthroughs that went a long way to holding India to 9-136 from their 26 overs.
After Australia’s target was reduced even further to 131 under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, Aussie skipper Mitch Marsh led the way with 46 not out as the hosts cruised to a seven-wicket victory with 29 balls to spare.
Australia have previously used Adam Zampa at the death with great success in both white-ball formats, with the leg-spinner the side’s leading wicket-taker in both the final 10 overs in the ODI format and final five overs in T20s since the start of 2020.
Kuhnemann too has previous experience closing out for Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash, capturing 12 wickets in the final five overs of an innings across his 55 BBL games while holding an economy rate of 8.95.
The 29-year-old faces being squeezed out of Australia’s XI in the next match when Zampa returns for Thursday’s second ODI in Adelaide after he missed Sunday’s series opener due to family reasons.
Kuhnemann, however, sees every opportunity no matter how fleeting as a chance to develop his craft, which has seen him emerge as the nation’s No.2 spinner in all three formats over the past 12 months.
“You never know when conditions might suit two spinners,” he said.
“(I’ve) got to be ready for anything.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with ‘Zamps’ in the last three months especially, and working with (Dan) Vettori, and even though it was a one-day game (today), in T20 you’ve got to be able to bowl any over from one to 20, especially as a finger spinner.
“I’m always learning off those boys and ‘Zamps’ has been an excellent bowler for this team for a long time now.
“Being able to travel with the red-ball team and running drinks there and just learning my way … I’m always happy to be part of this team and learn and grow as a player.”
Australia v India ODIs 2025
Australia squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe, Matthew Renshaw, Matthew Short, Mitchell Starc. Game two onwards: Adam Zampa, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis
India squad: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal
October 19: Australia won by seven wickets (DLS method)
October 23: Second ODI v India, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, 2:30pm AEDT
October 25: Third ODI v India, SCG, Sydney, 2:30pm AEDT
All matches live via Kayo Sports and Foxtel
