Ajinkya Rahane
Former Indian cricketer and a legend of the game, Kapil Dev, heaped praises on the Indian bowling attack and opined that it will be the batsmen who will decide the fate of the impending Border-Gavaskar Test series which begins next month in Adelaide.
Kapil expressed that he is unsure if the batters can amass 400 or more runs in an innings during the Test series.
“Let me put it differently. Looking at our pace attack, it will be about the batsmen. We’re not sure our batsmen will score 400 runs (in an innings). If our batsmen don’t struggle, we won’t have any problem,” he told Ayaz Memon during an interaction at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2020.
The Test series begins on December 17 with the Day-Night contest in Adelaide, the first of its kind involving the two nations and India's first away from home. The second Test, starting December 26, will be played in Melbourne followed by the New Year's Test in Sydney. The long tour would end with the final Test at the Gabba.
The Test series is preceeded by three ODIs and as many T20Is with the tour beginning from November 27 in Sydney with the 50-over contest.
India had won the 2018/19 Test series in Australia, their first in Down Under in 71 years of cricketing history.
Both the departments of the Indian team had contributed to the 2-1 historic win. The pacers comprising Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma along with the spinners had picked 70 wickets in four games as against 60 wickets picked by the Aussies.
In the batting department, Cheteshwar Pujara was the leading run-getter in the series with 521 runs. The next on the list for India was Rishabh Pant with 350 runs. Virat Kohli managed 282 runs while his deputy Ajinkya Rahane scored 217 runs. Australia's leading run-getter was Marcus Harris with 258 runs.
