Legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar feels India have the ability to out-bat Australia in the upcoming World Test Championship final. The summit clash between the two powerhouses of world cricket is set to be played from June 7 at the Oval in London. Gavaskar reckons India have depth in their batting line-up and they can easily bat only once.
"“I’m backing India to out-bat Australia because if you look at the Indian batting lineup, at number 8 we have (Ravichandran) Ashwin who has five Test hundreds and the Oval is generally a very good pitch to bat on. You win the toss, put up a big score on the first two days, then you don’t have to bat in the second innings," Gavaskar said while speaking to Star Sports.
He also felt that the Indian players picked in the WTC Final squad shoul travel to England once their respective IPL teams are knocked out of the ongoing IPL season. "I know the IPL finishes on May 28, and the Test starts on June 7. I’d like to see those players from the teams who haven’t qualified to go to England a bit earlier, maybe even play against club sides. It will help them adjust to the conditions," Gavaskar added.
Recently, India announced their squad for the WTC Final and recalled veteran Ajinkya Rahane for the summit clash. In the absence of middle-order batters Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, the selectors went for experienced Rahane who had a brilliant Ranji Trophy season. Suryakumar Yadav lost his place from the side while Sarfaraz Khan didn't get a chance either.
India squad for WTC Final: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, K L Rahul, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.
