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Former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar has opened up on India’s chances of winning the WTC final. He said that Cheteshwar Pujara’s experience of playing county cricket in England is invaluable in terms of the experiences he can have ahead of the WTC final.
The ICC World Test Championship starts on June 7 at the Oval. Australia topped the points table on their way to qualification while India finished second.
Talking to Star Sports, Sunil Gavaskar said Cheteshwar Pujara‘s knowledge regarding the conditions will be essential to Team India ahead of the final. He also said that Pujara will also exactly know how the pitch would behave.
Cheteshwar Pujara Will Have Seen How The Pitch Might Behave: Sunil Gavaskar
“The fact that he is been around will mean that he will have also seen how the pitch has been behaving at The Oval. He might not have played at The Oval, he might be in Sussex not too far away from London but he will have kept an eye on what is happening and his inputs will be invaluable as far as the batting unit is concerned or even as far as the captaincy is concerned,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.
“He will have the captains here as far as the Oval pitch is concerned and don’t forget he has also been captaining the team, so he definitely will have worked out quite a few strategies seeing that Steve Smith, the Australian is his teammate at the moment” Gavaskar further said on Pujara.
The former Indian skipper also said that the Indian batters will need to make a few adjustments after coming directly from the IPL into red-ball cricket. Gavaskar suggested that the Indian batters should adjust their bat speed and play as late as possible.
Indian Batters Should Look At Their Bat Speed: Sunil Gavaskar
“I think they are going to look at their bat speed. Coming from T20 where the bat speed is very fast to Test cricket where the bat speeds got to be a lot more control, that is something they’ll need to do,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.
“They’ll need to play in England as late as possible to allow for the swing to do it’s bit, not to reach out for the ball which often a lot of people make the mistake having played on good pitches” he further added.
Sunil Gavaskar also had a suggestion for the Indian bowlers. He asked them to bowl as full as possible with the new hard ball and allow it to swing.
Indian Bowlers Should Bowl Full: Sunil Gavaskar
“As a bowling unit also you’ll need to bowl a much fuller length for your new ball, for the bowlers to be able to get the movement in the air as well as after pitching.” Gavaskar highlighted the challenges India would face playing in English conditions” Gavaskar concluded saying.
Virat Kohli | Rohit Sharma | Rishabh Pant | KL Rahul | Suryakumar Yadav | Sanju Samson | Shreyas Iyer | Yuzvendra Chahal | Jasprit Bumrah
