Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar believes the Indian top batters are probably the envy of the cricketing world. India has always been a batting powerhouse over the years and the current Test team has quality batters such as Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, and Shreyas Iyer.
The Little Master also showered praise on Cheteshwar Pujara, who is on the cusp of playing his 100th Test match in Delhi. Pujara has been a consistent performer for India over the years and he will look to be at his best in the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia.
Gavaskar said in an interview with Hindustan Times: “Our top batters are probably the envy of the cricketing world. I have full confidence in them. Apart from Cheteshwar Pujara, others may not venture down the pitch, but that doesn’t make their footwork suspect.”
“What a yeoman servant of the game Cheteshwar has been. Brought up the old-fashioned but highly effective way of putting a massive value on his wicket, he is the batter that makes it easy for the others. “I hope he caps his 100th Test match with a huge hundred.”
Meanwhile, Australia will be without the services of their fast bowlers such as Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc in the first Test match against India. Furthermore, Cameron Green can only play as a pure batter if he is selected in the final XI. Gavaskar feels the injury woes of the visitors tilt the balance in India’s favor.
“Both the teams are superb. But Australia is likely to be without their potent threat Josh Hazlewood (and Mitchell Starc) for the first time. That could tilt the scales India’s way.”
On the other hand, India’s Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out with a back injury and thus either Shubman Gill or Suryakumar Yadav can bat in the middle order for the team.
The opening Test match between these two teams will be played in Nagpur from Thursday.
