WTC final: Irfan Pathan lists out the challenges for Indian openers

The ICC World Test Championship Final (WTC) is just four days away with India and New Zealand ready to battle it out in England starting on June 18. While the Blackcaps have momentum with them as they clinched a two-match Test series against England 1-0, the Indians are warming up nicely by playing intra-squad matches ahead of the summit clash.

Generally, the pitches in England tend to favour pace rather than spin and both the teams will look to add pace bowlers at their disposal for the finale which is going to be played at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.

Former India allrounder Irfan Pathan has a piece of advice for openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, before they face the likes of Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Neil Wagner and Kyle Jamieson on the seam swing conditions. All the bowlers pose different kind of challenges and to survive the first hour will be very crucial for Sharma and Gill, who both don’t have experience of opening in this part of the world.

Pathan also stated that he would go with Sharma and Gill as his first-choice openers but also warned the duo of the challenges that await them.

“I will definitely back Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, but they will have a lot of difficulties because of the bowling in front of them; one gets the ball in, and the other takes it away. Both of them will try to pitch the ball up, and there the two openers have to manage,” Irfan said during a discussion on Star Sports.

Irfan Pathan backs Shubman Gill to come good in the WTC final

The cricketer-turned-expert further concluded by saying that Gill would not carry baggage from his IPL performances for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) where he failed to perform. Pathan believes the 21-year-old will start with a fresh phase considering it is a new format and the fact that he did well Down Under too.

“We are talking about Shubman Gill that his performance in the IPL were not that good, but that is a different format. He started off very well in the red-ball format in Australia. You don’t forget that so soon, and you go according to the format.”