Ahead of the first T20I between India and Australia at the Gabba, former skipper Sourav Ganguly has delivered a word of caution for the Men in Blue. The legendary batsman insisted that Virat Kohli & Co. should be wary of the ‘pace and bounce’ at The Gabba,
The Gabba has a reputation of being an idol venue for the pacers. And with Australia having the likes of Andrew Tye, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Jason Behrendorff in their ranks, the Indian batsmen will have their task cut out. Ganguly also expressed his concerns over India not playing any warm-up game.
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“India have a stronger team as compared to Australia. India have never been up against such a weak Australian side. So, I think India should play well,” Ganguly told IndiaTV.
“I just have one concern that India will directly play Australia in a T20 match tomorrow before playing a practice game.”
Barring the concerns over the lack of warm-up game, India will not have much to worry about. Going by the current form, India will start the series as firm favourites. While India are entering the series on the back of a thumping win over reigning T2o World champions Windies, Australia lost to South Africa at home. Prior to that, the team from Down Under suffered a crushing 3-0 loss at the hands of Pakistan at UAE.
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Ganguly further spoke on the Gabba pitch, saying:
“There will be bounce on this pitch. The pace and bounce on Australian pitches are completely different from what you get in India. I hope they have got used to the pace and bounce in the last couple days by batting at the nets.”
Ganguly concluded by saying that India will start as favourites.
“India will be high on confidence and seeing Australia’s poor run, I believe India will start as favourites,” Ganguly concluded.