New Delhi, June 12 (IANS) Legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar emphasised the importance of India being ready for a transition in the future after Australia secured a convincing 209-run victory over the Rohit Sharma-led side in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final.
Speaking to Star Sports, Gavaskar expressed his belief that the Indian team is likely to witness a significant change in its composition as he does not expect many senior players to be in the Indian team two years down the line.
“I think two years down the road, I am pretty certain, there won’t be too many of the senior players. I would be very surprised. If they are there, then it’s fantastic because they would have played out of their skins to be there,” said Gavaskar.
“But, I think somewhere down the line, you have got to be prepared for transition, whether it’s 20 overs game, 50 overs game or Test cricket. But it has to happen,” Gavaskar added.
Superb first-innings centuries from Travis Head and Steve Smith gave Australia control of the Test early on, but India responded well to force the match to a fifth day.
India began the fifth and last day of the WTC Final needing 280 more runs to win with Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane looking purposeful in their fourth-wicket partnership of 86 during an improbable chase of 444.
But, Australia pacer Scott Boland got the ball rolling in the first hour, with Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc also among the wickets as Australia bowled out India for 234 to win their first WTC title.
With the defeat, India have now lost each of the two WTC Finals to have been held since the inception of the tournament.
–IANS
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