Former Indian batsman Virender Sehwag and skipper Sourav Ganguly believe that India is ready for the first Test match against England. In fact, India vulnerabilities were exposed when they played a warm-up match against Essex.
Meanwhile, it was palpable that Indian players didn’t give their 100% in the practice match. There were some good performances to go with some mundane shows.
India should not select their playing XI on the basis of the warm-up game.
Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara were not able to get themselves amongst the runs. However, Ganguly believes that India should not select their playing XI on the basis of the warm-up game.
“India is prepared for the challenge. A confident team like India shouldn’t decide its playing XI on the basis of performances in the practice match,” Ganguly told IndiaTV.
Virender Sehwag also agreed with his former captain. Furthermore, Sehwag said that it is going be interesting to note the combination with which India will take the field in the first Test.
“India is ready for the first Test. However, one confusion remains: whether they are going to play two fast bowlers, one all-rounder and two spinners or three fast bowlers, one all-rounder in Hardik Pandya and one spinner. The decision will depend on the playing conditions,” Sehwag said.
Furthermore, Ganguly believes that Indian think tank should pick KL Rahul to be the opening partner of Murali Vijay. The Prince of Kolkata went on to add that Dhawan has failed to perform in the overseas conditions.
“Dhawan’s history on overseas pitches hasn’t been very impressive. He goes overseas, fails to perform and gets dropped after a few Test matches. However, he has played amazing cricket in the subcontinent. He recently scored a century against Afghanistan before lunch. Rahul, on the other hand, has scored a hundred in Australia, played well in South Africa and West Indies too. I like him technically and he has been successful overseas. I’ll be surprised if India chooses not to open with Murali Vijay and Rahul in the first Test,” said Ganguly.
Meanwhile, Chesteshwar Pujara has also failed to hit the ground running in the English conditions. In fact, Pujara had a mediocre County season for Yorkshire where he averaged around 14. However, Ganguly said that Pujara has scored runs in South Africa, West Indies, and England on previous tours.
“Pujara is not in good form. He recently played county cricket and his average was just 13-14. However, in his last Test at the Wanderers, where India won the third Test, he scored a fifty. He has a century in South Africa to his name. He hasn’t been up to the mark in England, but has played better than Dhawan in countries like South Africa, West Indies, and England,” said Sourav Ganguly.
On the other hand, current Indian skipper Virat Kohli didn’t have the best of tours in 2014. Nevertheless, Sourav Ganguly, as well as Virender Sehwag, back Kohli to come good on the ongoing tour. The former southpaw batsman said that India has a good chance of winning the series.
“We hope for a century from Virat Kohli this time as he failed to put up an impressive show in 2014. However, he has changed a lot since then. It’s hard to imagine Kohli not performing in a lengthy five-match Test series. England’s batting is weak at the moment as we saw Pakistan defeat them in the first Test. India has the best chance to win the series this time,” said Sourav Ganguly.
“He made two fifties in ODIs and made 70 runs in the practice match. Seeing his current form, I hope he scores at least two hundred in ten innings of the five-match Test series. India will have to match the first innings total of England if they want to win the first Test,” said Virender Sehwag.
India will play their first Test match against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham from 1 August.
