Indian Cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar feels that Cheteshwar Pujara and Marnus Labuschagne will add great value to their respective teams in World Test Championship final, as they will come into the contest with a good amount of experience playing in the county championship 2023 to prepare themselves for the WTC final 2023.
In the ongoing County Championship, Cheteshwar Pujara has scored 545 runs at an average of 68.1, including three centuries leading his side Sussex to second place in the points table whereas Marnus Labuschagne has been in great form for Glamorgan, scoring 502 runs at an average of 71.71.
Speaking to PTI, Sachin Tendulkar believes that Pujara and Labuschagne will be vital for their team’s success in the WTC final, as they have ample amount of experience playing in the county championship and reckons that match practice will come in handy playing England conditions and spoke about the importance of playing practice matches among themselves to prepare for the high-octane final.
“Of course, playing in County cricket can be of great value. Both Pujara and Labuschagne had a considerable outing in the County cricket recently. Smith not as much as the other two, but whatever match practice one can get is very handy because the conditions are different.
“Our guys have played T20 and now they have gone to England, so are some players from Australia as they were playing T20 here but I believe playing practice matches… no better practice than that,” Sachin Tendulkar said.
Indian Players had week-long practice following the completion of the cash-rich league, Meanwhile, most of the Australian players opted to rest during the IPL, with few taking part in the county championship to get themselves prepared for the WTC final and Ashes 2023.
The Indian Team Will Be Happy That They Are Playing At The Oval – Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar feels that the Indian team will have an advantage of playing in the Oval conditions, as the surfaces can assist the Spinners in the later part of the innings, and asserted that the Indian Spinner can rely on the bounce as they would get zip off the balls as it can depends upon the conditions and the shiny side of the ball.
“The Indian team will be happy that they are playing at the Oval. The nature of the Oval pitch is such that it assists the spinners as the match goes on. So, spinners will come into play a little bit,”
“It need not be always a turning track as sometimes the spinners rely a lot on the bounce, sometimes that little bit of zip that they get off the pitch, also on the overhead conditions and it depends a lot on the shiny side of the ball,” Sachin Tendulkar Concluded.
It will be interesting to see whether the Indian team plays two spinners or go with one spinner on the green top surface of the Kennington, Oval. The Indian team will be desperate to end their ICC title drought when taking on Australia in the much-awaited final.