The Indian cricket team has some injuries ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia on June 7 at The Oval in London. However, former India cricketer and head coach Anshuman Gaekwad thinks that India has the potential to beat Australia on English soil. India has won in overseas conditions before, like in their 2-1 series win in 2020-21 against Australia, where senior players were absent due to injury or paternity leave. The likes of Mohammed Siraj, T Natarajan, Rishabh Pant, and Hanuma Vihari played their hearts out to secure the win.
Gaekwad thinks that if the Indian spinners get turn on The Oval wicket, Australia will be on the backfoot. He suggests playing Ravichandran Ashwin with Ravindra Jadeja in the playing XI to take advantage of the English batters’ struggles against left-arm spinners. In the recent Australia’s tour of India, both Jadeja and Ashwin took 22 and 25 wickets respectively. India won the four-match series 2-1 with the fourth match ending in a draw.
Regarding Rohit Sharma’s form in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Gaekwad believes that it has nothing to do with the WTC final. Rohit has scored just 191 runs in 11 games for Mumbai Indians with just one fifty to his name. To Gaekwad, T20 and a five-day Test match are two different formats of the game with a different approach altogether, so Rohit’s form is not a concern.
Gaekwad’s confidence in India’s potential to win is not shaken by the injuries. He believes that the youngsters can rise to the challenge as they did before. If the Indian spinners can take advantage of The Oval wicket, India is the favorite to win.
