Throughout the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, the turning pitches have been the center of attention. Despite India taking an insurmountable 2-0 lead early on, the focus has remained on the pitches, particularly after the hosts suffered a crushing nine-wicket defeat on the Indore pitch, which was subsequently classified as “poor” by the ICC.
Prior to the fourth Test match against Australia in Ahmedabad, former Indian cricketer, and legend Sunil Gavaskar made a comment suggesting that the absence of their star bowlers had weakened the host’s bowling attack under the leadership of Rohit Sharma.
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Sunil Gavaskar Not Happy With India Over Relying On Spin Conditions
In an interview, Gavaskar expressed his view that India’s current bowling attack, without key players such as Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, appears feeble and lacks the ability to take 20 wickets. As a result, the home has heavily relied on turning pitches, where their spinners can completely dominate the game.
“Taking 20 wickets is not going to be easy in India. On a lot of Indian pitches, without your ace bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami and a slightly inexperienced Mohammed Siraj, I don’t think that bowling attack is such (strong). But with a little bit of help from a dry pitch, India can probably take 20 wickets. I think that is the thinking behind preparing such pitches.”
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Gavaskar believes that India’s reliance on producing turning tracks is due to the absence of a strong bowling attack, which has forced them to rely on their spinners. He noted that producing flat tracks would not be ideal since it would favor the batsmen and that the current pitches are testing the batters’ temperament. He also stated that the home side did not have any other options if they wanted to reach the World Test Championship final.
Bumrah is still recovering from a back injury that has kept him out of action since September 2022. There are reports indicating that he may miss the entire 2023 IPL season and also the World Test Championship final if Rohit Sharma-led qualifies for it. Meanwhile, Shami has been rested as part of a workload management strategy, although there are suggestions that he may be included in the playing XI for the fourth Test.
Virat Kohli | Rohit Sharma | Rishabh Pant | KL Rahul | Suryakumar Yadav | Sanju Samson | Shreyas Iyer | Yuzvendra Chahal | Jasprit Bumrah
