Former opener Gautam Gambhir rates India favourites for upcoming four-match series, citing visiting team's inexperienced spin attack
India players celebrate an Aussie wicket on Day 2 of the 1st Test at Adelaide last December. Pics/Getty Images
Former India opener Gautam Gambhir does not see the visiting England team winning any Test in the upcoming four-match series with the kind of spin attack it has.
England have named the likes of Moeen Ali, Dom Bess and Jack Leach as spinners in their squad. While Ali is an experienced campaigner with 181 wickets from 60 Tests, Bess and Leach have played 12 Tests each, taking 31 and 44 wickets respectively.
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England spinners Dom Bess (left) and Jack Leach have played only 12 Tests each
Speaking exclusively on Star Sports’ show Game Plan, former Team India opener Gautam Gambhir made his prediction for the India-England Test series: "It has to be 3-0 India or probably 3-1. I’m only going to give a Pink Ball Test match, probably 50-50 to England just from the conditions point of view. I don’t see England winning any of the Test matches with the kind of spin attack they’ve got."
A different ball game
Gautam Gambhir talked about the challenge for the English batsmen, particularly Joe Root ahead of the India-England Test series, “This is going to be a completely different challenge for someone like Joe Root. Yes, he has played really well in Sri Lanka, but when you have to face people like Jasprit Bumrah on any wicket, or for that matter, Ravichandran Ashwin, when his confidence is sky-high after what he has done in Australia, I am sure it is going to be a completely different beast and a completely different ball game."
Gautam Gambhir
Gambhir said he had never questioned Virat Kohli’s captaincy in Tests and ODIs but has problems with his leadership in T20Is.
‘Kohli has done well in Tests’
Gautam Gambhir also lavished praise on Virat Kohli and talked about how India has grown under his leadership, “Time and times again! Yes, Virat Kohli is the leader, but I’m sure he gotta be as happy as the rest of the squad as well, but at the same time, yes, he has done really well in Test cricket. I’ve always had question marks on his T20 captaincy. Never had question marks on his 50-over or his Test match captaincy. India has done really well under his leadership, especially in red-ball cricket and I’m sure, India will continue to grow further, under his leadership, especially in red-ball cricket.”
Gautam Gambhir highlighted the importance of winning the series against England, “As any cricketer would say, it’s not about hundreds, it’s about the runs you can score to help your team win is very important. And yes, it clearly doesn’t matter if Virat hasn’t batted in Australia, obviously, he would love to, but the most important thing is that he has to look forward to is the England series and he knows that how important the England series is if they want to qualify for the World Test Championship final.”
Gautam Gambhir has been one of India's finest batsman and openers and has played 58 Tests and 147 ODIs during his cricket career.
Inputs from PTI
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