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Rohit Sharma (left) receives the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. (BCCI Photo)
Holders India will be touring Australia for five Tests later this year with an eye on a hat-trick of away series victories.
In November this year, the Indian men’s cricket team will tour Australia for a five-match Test series with eyes on registering a historic hat-trick. Australia have already started gearing up for the assignment with their captain Pat Cummins skipping a white-ball tour of UK to focus on his fitness for the challenges ahead.
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The Test series will be the first without batting great David Warner for Australia who retired earlier this year. The current world Test champions will be hoping to find a stable pair of batters who can give them strong starts but replacing someone like Warner is easier said than done.
Sunil Gavaskar says Australia’s batting looks a bid dodgy and India will be hoping to exploit the weakness during the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“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,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for the mid-day.
Gavaskar reiterated the absence of a “proper first-class” games during the tour and reckons it could hamper Indian team.
“India being usual slow starters in an overseas series in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) countries the first Test will be crucial. 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,” he wrote.
Gavaskar though admitted that the crowded cricket calendar makes it difficult to squeeze in a few practice games but it does impact inexperienced batters citing the example of Yashasvi Jaiswal.
“That said, it is how schedules are nowadays for most touring sides. It is tough on inexperienced newcomers as Yashasvi Jaiswal found in South Africa last year. He came back brilliantly with over 700 runs against England at home,” Gavaskar wrote.
Gavaskar though has predicted an India win.
“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. Oh, and my prediction is a 3-1 win for India,” he concluded.
