The Indian cricket team will travel to Australia for five Test matches next month. The much-awaited series is slated to get underway on November 22 in Perth.
In their last two tours, Team India had deified all odds to clinch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under. With 1.5 months remaining for the series, cricket experts and former players have started sharing their predictions.
Recently, ex-England captain Eoin Morgan also joined the bandwagon. He cited India’s remarkable win over Bangladesh in the recently held Kanpur Test to say that the Rohit Sharma-led side would ask a lot of questions to Australia with their aggressive style of play.
“If they go to Australia and play in that manner, a big part of that series will lie in the balance will be the fitness of Nathan Lyon and how they play (him). If they take that mindset into playing Nathan Lyon like that, it asks a lot of questions of Australia,” Morgan said during the launch of the International Masters League.
Eoin Morgan also hailed the current Indian team as “one of the greatest in their own conditions.”
“They have to be considered one of the greatest in their own conditions. What makes them so good is their hunger and desire to want to win. Their attitude towards that they never take for granted,” Morgan stated.
“We come from countries that have huge advantages for the home side. But yet our records over the course of generations are nowhere near as good as Indians,” he added.
Meanwhile, former all-rounder Shane Watson backed veteran batter Steve Smith to regain his form in his new role as opener, having registered low scores in the last couple of Tests.
“Steve Smith made the call to be able to go and open, and I think he should stay there. Cameron Green came in and batted at No 4 and did a brilliant job. The hundred that he got in New Zealand for something very special. He’s the perfect No 4 candidate now with the future moving forward.
“Steve Smith, the reason why he didn’t do so well over the previous couple of Test matches is he was a little bit off with his technique. Just a little bit off to see him getting out a couple of ways, which I’ve never really seen him get out before.”
Watson expects Australia’s “hard-bodied” bowlers to be able to manage the workload of the grueling five-Test series.
“One thing that they’ve shown throughout their careers, especially the last four or five years, is how incredibly resilient they are. Once the bowlers like (Mitchell) Starc, (Josh) Hazlewood and (Pat) Cummins, once they get up and going, they are very resilient,” he said.
“They are very hard-bodied and Test-match fit bowlers, which is what every fast bowler’s dream. There’s no question that they’ll be managed whenever we go through a series of five Test matches, but that’ll be the challenge that India have as well,” he further remarked.
(With inputs from Agencies)
