Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson has a strong faith on the Indian cricket team in the five-match Test series against England on the ongoing English tour. While the first Test of the series has started on Wednesday at Edgbaston (Birmingham), Watson said that he will be surprised if India doesn’t win the Test series.
Watson feels that England is not in their best form in Test cricket, like their present dominant form in ODI. So he has put ahead of the present no.1 ranked Test team India for the lengthy Test series.
Watson told India Today on Wednesday, “England haven’t been playing their best Test cricket recently though they’ve dominated the ODI format. I think it is going to be great test for Virat Kohli and his team. I wouldn’t be surprised if India won over there. They’ve definitely got the talent and technique to do well in England. So, I’ll be surprised if India doesn’t win.”
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Watson has claimed that India is facing problem to select their top-orders for the first Test as Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara are in the fight. The former Aussie all-rounder believes that it is a great problem and it shows how strong the team.
The 37-year-old said, “To me, who’s sitting this far, it seems to be a perfect storm, how things have come together for the Indians with the people who are available and the selection conundrum that they have at the top of the order. This is a great problem for India to have. England and Australia don’t have that problem at the moment where they are trying to fit in the likes of (Shikhar) Dhawan, (Cheteshwar) Pujara, (Murali) Vijay & (KL) Rahul. To be able to fit four of those guys in three is a very good problem to have. The best teams, when they’ve had a long period of success, have such issues to sort.”
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Watson also believes on the Indian skipper Virat Kohli as he said that the determined Kohli will learn from his disappointing England tour in 2014 where he had scored just 134 runs with the average of 13.40.
Watson said about his former IPL teammate, “Virat is a very determined guy. There is no doubt that the 2014 series will be something that he would’ve learnt from in a big way.
“From a technical point of view and also mentally, he is a guy who adapts to all conditions. I personally saw that in Australia, him coming out and dominating our fast bowlers on Australian pitches. It just shows his calibre and how he really adjusts little technical things to be able to adjust and turn things around very quickly. This is going to be a huge series in England for Virat.”’
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However, Watson said that his present favourite cricketer in the world is Indian top-order batsman KL Rahul. Watson believes that the 26-year-old has got all the skills, which are required to dominate against all types of bowling.
Watson said on KL Rahul, “He is the best for me in world cricket right now. I just love the way Rahul plays the game. He is so beautiful to watch. He does it so easily, whether it is against the fast bowlers with the ball swinging around or spin bowling, he has got all shot options. To top it, he has got a great defence too. He is incredibly good. So, I have my fingers crossed that he plays this Test series because I absolutely love watching him play. Whether it is T20 like we saw in this year’s IPL, or ODIs or the longer format, he has got all the skills required to dominate against all types of bowling.”
Talking about choosing one spinner between Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and Indian left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, Watson is confused.
He concluded, “Ashwin is an incredible bowler, has a great record and provides a lot with the bat too. But I am not too sure because Kuldeep is an X-factor as well and bowled brilliantly during the ODI and T20 series in England. So, I am not sure which way I will go. Again this is a good problem to have as both are match-winning bowlers.”
