In the 4th test match between India and Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) at Ahmedabad, the visitors won the toss and elected to bat first. Men in Blue must win this test match to win the series by 3-1 and to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara have been unable to make a big impact with a bat in the ongoing BGT 2023 series. former Australian cricketer, Brad Hogg has predicted Kohli will return to form once IPL 2023 season gets over.
Veteran leg spinner thinks Pujara and Virat are on the watch –
“I think Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara are on watch at the moment with the talent that’s going around in Indian cricket right now,”
“But when you look at those two experienced players, the amount of travel they’ve had and they’ve just come out of the COVID bubbles. For me, when they get a decent break after the IPL, you’ll see the best of Virat Kohli again,” said former Australian cricketer.
The Saurashtra’s hero shined with his 59-run innings in the last test match at Indore, where the highest score in all four innings was 60, his fighting knock in the third test showed the right-hand batter’s class, but he has to still make it big because, in five innings in the series, Pujara has scored 98 runs so far.
While the former Indian skipper’s return to form in limited overs cricket has been astounding with back-to-back centuries in ODI and a ton in T20I, run machine Kohli has been not able to score big in the longer format of cricket for so long. Kohli last scored a Test century for team India in 2019.
“Sarfaraz Khan is such a talent, but he’s got to prove himself a little more. Yes, he has been making runs in first-class cricket. But under pressure in the IPL, he sort of dropped on and off there. He has the ability to play at the highest level,” Hogg added.
Sarfaraz scored 556 runs in 6 games at an average of 92.66, with three centuries, in India’s longer format cricket tournament called Ranji Trophy.
Cricket, a common passion in India and Australia! Glad to be in Ahmedabad with my good friend, PM @AlboMP to witness parts of the India-Australia Test Match. I am sure it will be an exciting game! 🇮🇳 🇦🇺 https://t.co/XvwU0XCbJf pic.twitter.com/JwJecwUkHi
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 9, 2023
“I feel Suryakumar Yadav should get more opportunities before Sarfaraz Khan comes in. If Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara don’t perform over the next couple of months, he won’t be a bad one to bring in,” said the wrist leg spinner.
Surya played the first test match of BGT at Nagpur but was replaced later on in the series by Shreyas Iyer, Yadav’s form in limited-overs cricket has been amazing. He won the 2022 ICC Men’s T20I cricketer award.
Earlier, the in fourth and last test match of the series, the Australian squad remained unchanged, while the Rohit Sharma-led side rested Mohammed Siraj in the place of Mohammed Shami. Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is present at the Ahmedabad match with the Australian counterpart to watch Day 1 of the play.