Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar said that India should play with both their key spinners – Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin against New Zealand in the inaugural World Test Championship final in Southampton as its “boiling hot” weather will help the pitch dries up and assists spinners as well. Notably, the summit clash will begin on June 18.
“In Southampton, it’s been boiling hot over the last few days so the pitch will definitely be dry and help spin as the match progresses, so yes both Ashwin and Jadeja will play,” Gavaskar told PTI in an exclusive interview. “That (Ashwin and Jadeja together) also gives depth to the batting as well as give a fine balance to the bowling attack. For the series later (vs England) much will depend on the weather and pitch conditions.”
However, New Zealand will be high on confidence after their convincing series win against England by 1-0 recently. But Sunil Gavaskar doesn’t feel that India will be under-prepared despite the fact that they didn’t get to play any series before the final as well.
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“(In) today’s tours there are barely one or two practice games before the Test series begins and the Indian team has had intra-squad matches so they have had that practice. The team is a good blend of youth and experience and most of the players have been to England several times so they know the conditions and what to expect,” said the former batting legend.
Meanwhile, R Ashwin is expected to play a key role with his vast experience. And, Gavaskar feels applauded the veteran off-spinner as well. He even praised the batting attack also and revealed why the captain Virat Kohli is so successful.
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“Virat Kohli hardly ever plays through the line even on flat pitches and he plays late covering any movement off the pitch and that’s why he is successful on all types of surfaces. In the recent series against England in India he didn’t get a century but his 60 odd in Chennai was a wonderful exhibition on how to play spin bowling. He was smelling the ball and that’s the hallmark of all great batsmen,” Sunil Gavaskar concluded.
