Former Indian World Cup winner Sunil Gavaskar said that Steve Smith’s calm and composed century in the first innings would fire up the Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli to score big runs in the 1st innings to give the Indian team a decent chance to make a comeback into the game.
Steve Smith put on another masterclass against the Rohit Sharma-led in the first innings and notched up a special century at the Oval alongside Travis Head in the 1st innings of the World Test Championship final to give their massive advantage against the formidable Indian team. The modern-day Australian great has smashed a record nine Test centuries against India.
Speaking to the Broadcasters, Sunil Gavaskar believes that the former Indian skipper usually loves to play against the Australian team, as he has a terrific record against them in both home and away games and reckons that Virat Kohli would be highly motivated seeing Steve Smith score a hundred a high-octane final and wants to do the same for the Indian team.
“Well, first and foremost, he loves playing against the Australians. He has got a terrific record against the Australians. Now, he has also seen somebody he has always been compared with Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson, these are the top batters in the world. Everybody talks about it. He has not seen Steve Smith get a hundred. He would definitely want to get a hundred to show ‘Look he has got it, even I can get it’. That will be his aim at the moment,” Sunil Gavaskar told Star Sports.
Star Indian batter Virat Kohli couldn’t quite build on his start for Team India as he was dismissed for just 14 on a well-directed bouncer by Mitchell Starc, as Steve Smith took a sharp catch at the slips to send the Indian star back to the pavilion of the Ultimate test.
We Are All Interested To See How Shubman Gill Plays Against This Attack – Sunil Gavaskar
Cricketer-turned-commentator Sunil Gavaskar believes that Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma also got the ability to play big innings for the Indian team in the WTC final and reckons that it would be interesting to see how the young Indian opener plays the game against mighty Australian bowlers.
“But, of course, before that, there is Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma. Plenty of batting. We are all interested to see how Shubman Gill plays against this attack on this pitch. Even on Day 2, the ball is doing a bit, jumping up,” Sunil Gavaskar added.
Team India lost Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma quickly after getting off to a promising start against Australia bowlers in the WTC final, as they could not go on to score big runs for their team in a massive encounter in Kennington Oval.