IND vs AUS: Sunil Gavaskar makes bold statement on India’s bowling attack

Sunil Gavaskar

After Australia’s sensational nine-wicket victory over India in the third Test held in Indore, the turning tracks of India are drawing a lot of attention. However, before the third Test as well, the spinning wickets were getting discussed in the cricketing circles but recently, the Indian team has come under heavy criticism after losing the third Test to the visitors by a huge margin.

On the turning surface of Indore, the tables turned as Indian batters struggled to rack up runs against Aussie spinners. In both innings, the hosts failed to handle the Aussie spin wizard Nathan Lyon, inexperienced Matthew Kuhnemann, and youngster Todd Murphy. The team couldn’t even touch the 200-run mark as well in both innings.

Gavaskar seeks the reason behind dry pitches

Witnessing India’s poor show in the previous game, India’s legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar had something to say to the Rohit Sharma-led side before the fourth Test to be held in Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. 

Appearing on India Today’s show, Gavaskar said that in the absence of premier bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, the team’s bowling-up is looking frail and unable to hunt 20 scalps. Hence, the team is heavily banking on turning wickets so that the Indian spinners could control the game according to their requirements.

Gavaskar said, “Taking 20 wickets is not going to be easy in India. On a lot of Indian pitches, without your ace bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami and a slightly inexperienced Mohammed Siraj, I don’t think that bowling attack is such (strong). But with a little bit of help from a dry pitch, India can probably take 20 wickets. I think that is the thinking behind preparing such pitches.”

Shami might be added to the playing XI for the Ahmedabad Test

Bumrah, who spearheads India’s bowling attack, couldn’t participate in the competition after failing to recover from his back injury. On the other side, Shami didn’t feature in the playing XI of the third Test due to workload management. However, Shami might return to the squad for the final Test against the Aussies.