While all eyes will be on Virat Kohli, Wasim Jaffer believes two other batsmen will play a bigger role in the upcoming ICC World Test Championship Final between India and Australia.
India and Australia will be locking horns next week as they fight it out for the Test supremacy after finishing the ongoing WTC cycle as the top two ranked sides. Australia will be making their maiden appearance in the WTC final while India will be playing their second. India made it to the final in the inaugural edition too in 2021 under Virat Kohli’s captaincy but lost the game against New Zealand.
And as Rohit Sharma & Co. gear up to make amends in the upcoming final, Wasim Jaffer believes the skipper and his opening partner Shubman Gill will be playing a massive role in deciding the outcome of the game. Talking about the challenging conditions to bat in England, Wasim Jaffer opined that India’s openers will have their task cut out against the likes of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.
“Openers will have to play a massive role. England is the most challenging place to bat because of the sideways movement. Conditions change so drastically because of the weather. It changes quickly.
“The duke’s ball also poses a lot of problems. As the ball gets old, it will keep swinging and also starts to reverse. With Starc and Cummins, running at 145 kph, it is going to be challenging,” Wasim Jaffer told Indian Express.
Speaking further, Jaffer said that Australia skipper Cummins will be a huge threat for India. The former batsman stated that Cummins ‘will be a different beast’ while operating with the duke’s ball in the English conditions.
“Cummins will be a different beast with the duke’s balls. If the conditions will be slightly in favour of them, then they will make life miserable for the Indian openers,” Jaffer said in the interview.
The ICC WTC Final 2023 is scheduled to be played from June 7 at the Oval in London. There is also a reserve day.