NEWS
Follow UsFormer India captain Sunil Gavaskar believes Rohit Sharma and his men will beat Australia 3-1 in the much-awaited five-match Test series later this year.
India haven't lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after 2014-15, having won four series in a row. They have even emerged victorious in their last two visits to Australia, winning both the series by a margin of 2-1.
“It's going to be an exciting series for sure with the talent that is there on both sides and it will also show why Test match cricket is the ultimate format of our beloved game. And my prediction is a 3-1 win for India,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-day.
Many former players, mainly from Australia, have started predicting the series scoreline. “The five Test matches that India play (at home) before they go to Australia will be good for the mental tuning that is required for a tough tour like that.
“Already the mind games have begun with Australian players, both current and former, airing their views about what the result would be.
“While they (Australia) are not making Glenn McGrath-like statements of a clean sweep they are still suggesting that Australia will prevail. Sadly, apart from Ravi Shastri, no other former or current player has seen to counter the mind games which the Aussies are so good at."
Gavaskar has a solution for those mind games. “Maybe Ravichandran Ashwin should start telling us about a special delivery that he is developing for Steve Smith, that is, of course, if he continues to open the batting and can survive Jasprit Bumrah,” Gavaskar wrote.
Gavaskar feels Australia will miss the services of now-retired David Warner. Since Warner’s retirement, Steven Smith and Usman Khawaja have been opening the innings for Australia. The two, however, haven’t done much as an opening pair, averaging just 21.3 after seven innings.
"With their opening batting problems exacerbated after the retirement of David Warner and the middle-order also a bit dodgy, the Aussies are ripe for the taking once again.”
The former opener said India have a history of starting slow outside the subcontinent and that’s exactly what they will have to be careful of in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting on November 22 at Perth.
"India being usually slow starters in an overseas series in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries, the first Test will be crucial,” he wrote.
"That they aren't playing proper first-class games before that as well as in the week-long gaps between some Test matches could work against them. That said, it is how schedules are nowadays for most touring sides.”
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