World News – USA – Sunil Gavaskar: Rahul, Iyer may attack Australian bowlers in Rohit’s absence

Sunil Gavaskar: Although Rohit is missing for the T20Is and the ODIs in K.. L.. . Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, India now have two batsmen who can carry out the attack on the opposition. – Akhilesh Kumar

That India is the land that the Moolah brings in for other countries has been known in cricket circles for some time. A tour of the Indian cricket team makes money like no other tour, and even a World Cup doesn’t come close to the revenue that an India tour generates for the host country.

Despite all of this, there is a reluctance to blame Indian cricket, especially among the old forces. They will strive to bring the Indian team to their country outside of the curve as well, as indicated in the schedule the England and Wales Cricket Board has announced for next year.

The Indian team usually travels to a different country every four years. Despite touring England for a five-test streak in 2018, England stands ready to host another five-test streak in three years’ time in 2021. The Indian team will have been to England four times in four years, starting with the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and the ICC World Championship 2019 and in between with the five-test series 2018.

The same goes for Australia, where India only played a few years ago in 2018/19 and is now there for another tour with tests as well as T20Is and ODIs. That would have been understandable if the Australians had visited India in the meantime, but that didn’t happen. So it was a win-win for Australia and England. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always reciprocate India’s support at the ICC, where the countries that benefit from an India tour act as stumbling blocks to India’s seat at the board table.

The pandemic has caused panic around the world, and the sports world is also badly affected. That’s why the success of the Indian Premier League has been such an energy boost for the cricket ecosystem. Although no spectators were allowed into the stadium, the tournament achieved a very good number of spectators, which guaranteed financial inflows for the BCCI.

That in turn encouraged other boards. India is starting its Australia tour with the ODI series, although it would have been better to start with a T20 series as the IPL was only recently over and the Indian team would have been better prepared for this format. Then it would have been a better way for players to get their mental antennas right if they relaxed a little and played the slightly longer 50-overs format followed by the five-day test series.

Anyway, there is little choice between the two sites as both have excellent punch and speed bowling opportunities and the one area where India has an advantage is in the spin department. The spinners picked wickets in the middle overs and paused the scoring, which was one of the reasons India did well in the ODIs. There’s the Rohit Sharma factor, of course, which enables the team to get off to a quick start with Shikhar Dhawan in the company, and then with Virat Kohli who follows, the team scores great.

The problem is generally when the first three don’t get going. Although Rohit is missing for the T20Is and the ODIs, K. . L.. . Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, India now have two batsmen who can carry out the attack on the opposition. India’s tempo attack is also a powerful attack capable of plucking wickets at the top and running through the lower order. The Australian playing fields are great for hitting after the ball has lost its hardness and with the even bounce, hitting can be a joy.

The test series will present its own challenges starting with the Pink Ball Test in Adelaide. The Aussies have an unbeaten record there and know exactly what the ball is doing, especially at the hour when the sun goes down and the light fades. The Indians must pay particular attention to this hour when they strike. The Indian experience of a pink ball game was limited to just one test against Bangladesh, which they won at a gallop and were barely stretched.

The presence of Steve Smith and David Warner on the Australian side will make India difficult compared to its last tour Down Under. – AP

The Indians will be a bit more familiar with the Melbourne and Sydney pitches where they did well on the last tour, but it’s Brisbane, the Australian fortress. This is where the Aussies like to start the test series, as the fast and jumping playing field works to the advantage of their bowlers. Last time India didn’t play a test there, the experience on the course is pretty limited. It will be interesting to see how Rohit Sharma fares as the opening hitter overseas.

He did phenomenally well in India when he started batting in friendlies. Given that he likes the ball on the racket, there is no reason why he shouldn’t succeed in Australia either. Mayank Agarwal took his game to the next level and was one of the great success stories of that historic victory two years ago, despite only playing a few friendly matches.

Steve Smith: « Rohit’s absence will be a huge void in the white ball, as will Virat in Tests.  »

Virat Kohli is only playing the first test and that is sure to be a big morale boost for the Australians. He has a great record at six hundred so the Aussies will have fewer headaches to worry about. The Indian team has won every time Kohli hasn’t played, be it the two Tests he missed or the Nidahas Trophy or the Asian Cup in 2018, so his absence only makes the others lose the level to increase their game.

Now that Steve Smith and David Warner return to the Australian team and Marnus Labuschagne has made progress, as Agarwal has done for the past two years, it will be far more difficult to play the Aussie eyelash than the last tour on who got no Aussie batsman a century.

India National Cricket Team, Australian Men’s Cricket Team, International Cricket Council