Daryll Cullinan, who is currently 53-year old, was one of the batting mainstays of South Africa and played for the country from 1993 to 2001.
He debuted in 1993 against India in tests in January before debuting against Pakistan in next month in the same year in ODIs. He played 70 tests and 138 ODIs and averaged 44.21 in tests and 32.99 in ODIs.
Daryll Cullinan: India Will Miss Attitude And Competitiveness Brought By Virat Kohli
Daryll Cullinan is keeping a keen watch on forthcoming India versus Australia Border Gavaskar 4 match test series and believes the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have to step up as Virat Kohli will be absent in last 3 tests.
“Both are quality teams and will come hard at each other. Australia, in their own backyard, will always start as favourites but India are a tough side and it should be a keenly-fought series,” Cullinan told TOI on Saturday.
Daryll Cullinan was in Chennai for the launch of the MS Dhoni-CSS High-Performance Centre where he will be the director of coaching. He felt India would miss regular skipper Virat Kohli in last three Tests as he will be on paternity leave to attend the birth of 1st child back home. The South African believes Indian batsmen and bowlers will be accustomed to conditions when the test series commences on December 17.
“India will miss the attitude and competitiveness that Virat brings to the team. His sheer presence gives a boost to the Indian dressing room. However, with Virat not in the side, it’s an opportunity for others to step up. India have the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and others to shoulder the responsibility of scoring those crucial runs against a quality Australian bowling line-up,” Cullinan said.
“When you come to a new country, adjusting takes time. A few of the players in the Test series are featuring in the limited-overs leg of the tour. The rest of the Test specialists have been training in these conditions and that should work in India’s favour ahead of the Adelaide Test,” he said.
At the same time and venue where India is playing 2nd T20I, India A is playing Australia A. India A consist of more test specialists like Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw and Hanuma Vihari who failed. However, test specialist batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara scored 54, and Ajinkya Rahane scored an unbeaten 108 to lift India from a spot of bother at 128/6 to well placed 237/8 after the end of 1st day’s play. James Pattinson took 3 scalps, and Michael Neser and Travis Head picked 2 wickets each.
Daryll Cullinan: No Need For Rohit Sharma To Take Over T20I Captaincy
He disagrees the fact and believes that there is no need for Rohit Sharma to take over the captaincy from Virat Kohli in T20Is after the Mumbaikar bagged his 5th IPL trophy as Mumbai Indians skipper in IPL 2020.
“Has Virat done badly in T20s? No, he hasn’t. Then why change the captain. That’s my view,” he said.
India and Australia are currently contesting with each other in three-match T20I series where India leads 1-0. It is underway after Australia won ODI series 2-1 with Steven Smith scoring back to back tons in first two ODIs at Sydney.