Former Australian gloveman, Adam Gilchrist expects that the Indian skipper Virat Kohli to deliver the same performance as he did in the 2014-15 Test series. But, if the Indian team wants to keep the coveted Border-Gavaskar Trophy with them, the other Indian batsmen will have to rally around their talismanic skipper.
The first Test starts in Adelaide on December 6 and last time around, Kohli had scored centuries in both innings in India’s heartbreaking loss. During a recent interview with PTI, Gilchrist said, “Going ahead into the Test series, I expect Virat Kohli will have another imperious outing as he did in 2014 (694 runs in 4 Tests at average 86.50). I have spoken with him these last few days, seen his confidence, and seeing the way he batted in Sydney, I will be very surprised if he doesn’t. The key for India winning this series though will be batsmen around him. Will they support him enough to allow India to get enough runs, and give their good bowling attack enough opportunity to defend or even bowl Australia twice in a Test?”
When asked that what would be the plan for Australia to stop Kohli, Gilchrist replied that there can’t be a single approach to stop the Indian skipper. He feels that the Australian team needs to be patient and Virat by playing the good old-fashioned Test cricket. The only hope for the Australian bowlers to bowl dismantle the Indian bowling will be with the new ball.
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Gilchrist conceded that Team India will start as favorites but added that it won’t take too much for Australia to be dominant in their own conditions. He explained, “India start as favorites for this Test series mainly because they have a reasonable idea of their team composition. They have a strong understanding of what combination they want to play with. I think India have a stable Test team. Whereas if you look at Australia, I don’t think their selectors are quite sure about the line-up or team balance. This is a new phase for Australian cricket.”
The veteran wicket-keeper said that the bowling line-ups of both the teams are quite potent hence, the batting line-up that can eliminate collapses will come up trumps. He feels that either side can win the series. He even added that the 1-1 draw was an even reflection of the T20I series.
India has been facing some batting woes recently because of which in South Africa, they lost 2-1 and then 4-1 in England. But, there is no denying to the fact that the team was overall competitive in both series and credits for that goes to Kohli’s form and the Indian pace attack.
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The hosts will be missing the services of Steve Smith and David Warner, both of whom are serving yearlong bans for the ball tampering scandal in South Africa earlier in March. Talking about them, Gilly said, “Smith and Warner have scored a lion’s share of Australia’s runs over the last couple years or so, and this is a huge loss, no doubt. They are clearly going to miss them, especially Smith because he is in the same space as Kohli. Warner can be very damaging and this is a massive hole. Their absence makes it a more open series for India and all the more difficult for Australia.”
