Gautam Gambhir wants the visitors to capitalize on Australia’s vulnerabilities especially in the batting department and seal the series as the Australians are suffering from batting deficiencies but will be bolstered by opener David Warner’s return.
Australian players’ struggle with the bat has been quite evident in the ongoing Test series against India as they failed to score beyond 200 in each of the 3 completed innings.
Gautam Gambhir. Image Credit: Getty Images.
Gautam Gambhir: Australian Batting Line-up Is Weakest Compared To England, India And New Zealand
Gautam Gambhir even went on to say that it is the “weakest batting line-up” for Australia as he compared it with England, New Zealand, and Indian batsmen. The highest Australia has gone so far after the completion of two Tests against India is 200.
“We have a chance against Australia. If you look at the top four batting line-up of the world, I think it’s the weakest batting line-up. England is better than Australia, New Zealand is better than Australia and India is much better than Australia,” Gambhir told ANI.
“I haven’t seen this kind of Australian batting line-up in my life. So, vulnerability is there. They haven’t played India’s main attack. If Shami, Ishant, and Umesh Yadav were fit then there would have been no reply from the Australians. So, there is a big possibility and chance that we can win this series,” he added.
Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami. BCCI Twitter
Both Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are not available since they have ruled out for injury-related issues while Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav suffered injuries in 1st and 2nd Test. Despite their unavailability, India have a potent pace bowling attack with likes of Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur and T Natarajan in their ranks.
Navdeep Saini who generates pace and bounce have been preferred and will debut in Sydney Test joining pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. The latter debuted in Melbourne Test and was successful picking 5 scalps.
Gautam Gambhir: Big Opportunity For India As Australia Are Under Pressure
Australia are under pressure with Steve Smith who scored successive centuries in first 2 ODIs, have failed pathetically notching up only 10 runs in 4 innings. Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Wade have scored more than 100 runs in 2 Tests while likes of Travis Head, Cameron Green and Joe Burns failed with bat.
Elaborating further on India’s chances of winning the series, Gambhir said: “It’s a big opportunity and chance for the Indian team to beat Australia in Australia again because I don’t think this kind of vulnerability was ever seen in the hosts’ batting line-up. They are under pressure.”
Travis Head. Image Credit: Getty Images.
Currently, the four-match Test series between India and Australia stands level at 1-1 and both teams will be aiming to take the lead with a win in the third Test, set to commence on Thursday, 7th January.
