Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar has urged India to take one Test match at a time against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar and not think about a 4-0 series win. India needs to beat Australia by 4-0 to qualify for the World Test Championship final after suffering a 0-3 whitewash against New Zealand at home.
India has won their last two Test series against Australia while playing on the Australian shores but there is no doubt that beating the Aussies by 4-0 will be a herculean task.
Furthermore, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are not in the best of forms and Manjrekar reckons the either one of them needs have a big series with the bat. Manjrekar feels India will also miss the services of gun fast bowler Mohammed Shami.
Sanjay Manjrekar said on Star Sports, “4-0, a distant dream, just take one step at a time and the first couple of steps, which is Perth and the next one in Adelaide are going to be India’s toughest tests. We need Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, one of them, to have a great series. Problem for India is that the bowling which has been their great strength in the last couple of years, Shami missing.”
On the other hand, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar wants India to move on from the ignominious series loss against the Kiwis. The former Indian opener feels Rohit Sharma’s team will need to believe they can turn the tables on Australia.
“No team, including the champion West Indies of the past has beaten Australia 4-0 to the best of my recollection. They’ve got a very good captain Rohit Sharma who’s always been somebody who’s been able to lift the team up.”
“Rishabh Pant has got the great ability to soak up the pressure. He just wants to go out there and enjoy himself, play to the best of his ability. Forget what happened against New Zealand, they’ve just got to believe that they can turn the tables on Australia like they’ve done on the last couple of tours to Australia,” he added.
The opening Test match between India and Australia will be played at Perth from November 22 onwards.
