Nathan McSweeney has revealed he studied Virat Kohli on YouTube to learn how to play spin in India. The Australia A batter said it after he was named Player of the Series in Puducherry, where Australia A beat India A 2-1 in the one-day games.
Kohli was not the only one. McSweeney also named Steve Smith and the other Australians who have scored runs in India.
“You watch how the great Indian players play spin. Virat Kohli on YouTube and try to study how he goes about it. Steve Smith and other Australians as well who have done really well here.”
Nathan McSweeney, Player of the Series presentation, 11 October 2026
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Studying Kohli on a laptop is one thing. Facing India’s spinners in Puducherry heat is another, and the gap between the two decides whether the homework pays off.
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Footage shows the decisions clearly. You can see where Kohli stands, how far he comes forward, when he goes back, and how late he plays the ball. A batter can drill those choices in the nets until they become habit.
What a screen cannot give you is the ball leaving the spinner’s hand on a dry pitch, in heat that drains you long before the innings ends. Reading drift and pace off the surface only comes from facing it, over after over. The video gives you a plan. The middle tells you whether the plan holds.
How It Showed in Puducherry
McSweeney walked in during the fourth over of the first one-dayer on 6 October, and Australia A soon lost five wickets cheaply. He made 123 off 135 balls and added 141 with Will Sutherland. Australia A reached 274 and won by 125 runs.
“The game was telling me I needed to bat some time.”
Nathan McSweeney, after the first one-dayer, 6 October 2026
He swept the spinners and came down the pitch at Anukul Roy, Nishant Sindhu and Vipraj Nigam. He also had Sindhu caught with his offspin. In the third game he made 39 before India A won by 49, and he finished as the leading run-scorer of the one-day series.
The four-day games were harder. He got starts but did not turn any of them into a big score.
| Match | McSweeney’s score |
|---|---|
| Four-day games (2) | 0, 35, 34, 36 |
| 1st one-dayer | 123 (135 balls) |
| 3rd one-dayer | 39 |
The timing matters. McSweeney made 72 runs in six innings in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy before he was dropped for Sam Konstas. The late call-up for the South Africa Tests then went to a Victoria keeper-batter who made 128 against India A.
Australia have tried Smith, McSweeney, Konstas, Jake Weatherald, Nic Maddinson and Marnus Labuschagne at the top since David Warner retired. The opening problem remains unsolved, and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy starts in Nagpur on 21 January 2027.
He made four County Championship hundreds for Northamptonshire this year and topped the one-day run charts in this series. Red-ball runs in India are the piece his case still lacks.
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