India captain Virat will be a more experienced force, underlines Indian batting legend before Pataudi Trophy opener
Virat Kohli. Picture/ AFP
Sunil Gavaskar reckons India will win the Test series 4-0 if the weather is warm in England. His optimism is not misplaced because visiting teams have thrived and overpowered the hosts when the sun has shone in that part of the world.
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He also feels Virat Kohli has the upper hand in his battles against James Anderson.
Gavaskar said: Looking at the way Kohli adapted in 2018, looking at the way he was so certain around the off stump; his shot selection being so immaculate, I just think that with Anderson as a fast bowler getting three years older and Kohli getting three years more experience…
Kohli scored 593 in five Tests on the 2018 England tour after experiencing a torrid time in 2014. “Batsmen are at their peak around 28 to 33-34. I do believe that Kohli will come out like he did in 2018,” remarked Gavaskar.
Kohli has featured in 92 Tests and has scored 7,547 runs while Anderson has claimed 617 wickets in 162 Tests.
Gavaskar, who amassed 10,122 runs in 125 Tests with an average of 51.12, felt KL Rahul, who scored 101 versus County Select XI in Chester-Le-Street recently, will be an ideal opening partner for Rohit Sharma in the opening Test of the Pataudi Trophy starting on Wednesday at Nottingham.
Prithvi Shaw, who last played a Test against Australia in December 2020, but was recalled after his recent good show in white-ball cricket, has to spend time in quarantine and will not be available for the first two Tests. When asked whether Shaw is ready for the red-ball challenge, Gavaskar said he looked confident. "We don’t know at the moment, but the improvement that he [Shaw] showed, he was looking to play closer to the body, not find a gap between pad and bat. He worked hard after coming back from Australia. These are very encouraging signs and clearly, of course, having scored in white-ball [cricket], the confidence is there."
"That’s why I wish there were a couple of County games in between these Tests matches because he could have played those County games and we would have been able to see how he [Shaw] made adjustments. But sadly, there are no County games, so we just have to wait," added Gavaskar.
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