The inaugural edition of the ICC Test Championship commenced with the AShes 2019 and all the 9 teams ready to give a tough fight to each other to feature in the final which is scheduled to be played on June 10, 2021. While the teams are battling their ways out the former England spinner, Monty Panesar decided to predict has already come out with a prediction of Australia being the favorites to win the league.
Currently, India is leading the charts with 120 points by winning 2 Tests against the West Indies that they played. New Zealand and Sri Lanka are not far behind as they are standing at the 2nd and 3rd position with 60 points each after winning 1 match each in the two-Test series they played. Australia is currently on the 4th position with 56 points but they would like to grab some more points by winning the last Ashes Test against England.
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Considering the dominance with which the Australians have played in the Ashes, it certainly makes them the favorites. In an interview with the Times of India Panesar said, “Australia looks to be the favorites. The way they are playing and dominating, I am sure they will win the championship.”
Panesar also echoed the same voice as his former teammate Steve Harmison had over the Steve Smith making a strong comeback. The latter has scored as many as 671 runs in 5 innings with 82 runs being his lowest score in this series against English men. But Panesar feels that Smith will never be able to line-up with the legends due to his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal.
The former spinner said, “Australia batsman Steve Smith should not be compared with any cricketing great after his involvement in the sandpaper gate. It doesn’t matter how many runs Smith will score, he will never be in the league of greats.”
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Monty Panesar, the former English spinner has 50 Test wickets to his name and has grabbed 167 wickets for the Brits. He had a great run in 2006-07 Ashes where he took 10 wickets in 3 Tests for England although they lost the series.
