Former Australia pacer Brendon Julian has made a big claim that the Pat Cummins-led side will blow away India in the first Test of the BGT 2024 (Border-Gavaskar Trophy) series in Perth in 4 days. He also speculated that star batter Virat Kohli is not in sync with captain Rohit Sharma and coach Gautam Gambhir.
Julian, who represented Australia in 25 ODIs and 7 Test matches between 1993 and 1999, believes that India has many "worries," such as player availability and form, which makes the Australians the clear favorites to win the opening Test.
Since Rohit Sharma is most likely to miss the first Test match for India, Jasprit Bumrah will assume captaincy responsibilities. This is the first thing that worries Julian.
"The Aussies will clean up India in 4 days. There are worrying signs for India, straight at the top. Rohit Sharma is not playing the first Test; he has come out and said that. So Jasprit Bumrah will captain the side. Now that's a lot of pressure when you're the opening bowler. He is a wonderful bowler; no doubt about that. But all of a sudden when you're opening the bowling and captaining the side, that's a whole different ball game," he said on Fox Cricket.
The second thing that concerns Julian is that in the absence of Mohammad Shami and out-of-form Virat Kohli, who is seemingly not on the same page as coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma, India’s chances are bleak.
"The way that Virat Kohli got out against New Zealand – for him to get out like that in that Test series was unbelievable. Kohli is not at his best. He is not gelling with the captain probably and the coach but having said that, he can quickly turn it around. But if they start pulling in Perth, I reckon it'll be all over,” Julian added.
Having amassed over 2000 runs in 25 Test matches against Australia, Kohli has been a thorn in their side. Julian thinks Nathan Lyon will be smacking his lips to bowl to the former India captain, even if the circumstances would be ideal for his elegant and free-flowing batting style.
"The thing with Virat Kohli is that I think he would rather bat in Australia. The way he batted against New Zealand in India, he was getting out to spinners. The nemesis for him would be Nathan Lyon. He's got the wood over him, but he is going to enjoy the conditions. Yes, Perth will be quick and bouncy. Yes, he has played against Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Hazelwood but I get the feeling that if he starts well, he is going to have a really good series. But you've got to get on him early. You can't let him ease into his batting," he added.
India has held the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since 2017 onwards and has won their last two Test series in Australia in 2018-19 and 2020-21.
