Clear headache for Australians

Two staunch rivals in India and Australia will compete in the prestigious World Test Championship final at The Oval from June 7As it should be this is a hard match to predict Thatrsquos mainly because of injury concerns and neither team playing a Test since completing a hard fought series earlier this year To make matters even more difficult many of the players involved have only competed in IPL cricket in the lead up to the oneoff TestWhile this may not seem to be the ideal preparation itrsquos worth recalling the opinion of former England batsman Ravi Bopara In 2009 Bopara went straight from the fledgling IPL into a Test series against the West Indies and reckoned he was ideally prepared because T20 cricket got his feet moving and put him in a positive frame of mindBall will talkTherefore expect the players especially the batsmen to be ready for the Test Itrsquos up to the bowlers to specifically prepare for the longer spells required in the fiveday formatIf Australia have their classy pace trio of Pat Cummins Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood available that makes them slight favourites They are good bowlers at any time but England in early June should be right up their alley Nevertheless an Indian pace attack consisting of Mohammed Shami Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav is also strong and only just behind the Australian trio in wickettaking capabilityMental strength will play a huge part in this Test The team that displays the most resilience is likely to win as long as the contest is not unduly affected by bad weather Being able to maintain a decent line and length when under attack is now mandatory in the tougher series and a fully fit Australian attack should benefit if the opposition are overzealousTherefore much will depend on how the batsmen treat the talented opposing pace attacks Australia rely heavily on Steve Smith Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawajarsquos big scoring ability but the enigmatic David Warner shouldnrsquot be overlookedDespite his struggles in England Warner is a dangerous player because he can score quickly If he gets a start India need to be wary of the danger Warner presentsOn the Indian side Virat Kohli Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara are a handful because theyrsquove enjoyed success in Test cricket Their job will be tough against a strong Australian attack but the bowlers also need to pay careful attention to Shubman GillBig stageHe tends to play with no fear and Gill has a strokemaking mentality which will not change even on this momentous occasion If hersquos allowed the freedom to score quickly and hit boundaries then Gill will be a headache for AustraliaOne selection dilemma for India will be Ajinkya Rahane Judging by the current squad Rahane is likely to play which means hersquoll be largely relying on past form against Australia If he plays Rahane will help in slips to the spinners as he is easily Indiarsquos best catcher in that positionIndia have an advantage in spin bowling because of Ravindra Jadejarsquos ability to bat in the top six which allows them the luxury of including the efficient R Ashwin While Nathan Lyon is a good bowler hersquoll be Australiarsquos sole spinnerThe injuries to Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant badly affect India as they would be outright favourites with these two playing The somewhat surprising unavailability of allrounder Hardik Pandya also harms India as he would provide them with the final piece of the jigsaw puzzleWith the match being played in English conditions this slightly favours the strong Australian pace attack However as Bopara showed you should never underestimate the value of an IPL preparation for batsmenAlso ReadLSG vs MI highlights Mumbai beat Lucknow by 81 runs to face Titans in Qualifier 2