New Delhi, Feb 21 (IANS) Former India left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir has cautioned the Rohit Sharma-led side against complacency, citing the epic 376 runs stand for the fifth wicket between VVS Laxman (281) and Rahul Dravid (180) during the famous Kolkata Test against Australia.
India have won the first two matches of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy and through the six-wicket victory in New Delhi, they have now retained the trophy through an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-game series.
Two more matches are still to be played in the series, which will be held in Indore and Ahmedabad respectively. One more win and India will seal their second successive World Test Championship (WTC) final spot, which will be held at The Oval in London from June 8.
“If one of them scores a double century, you would remember Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman did that when India were down and out, one player scored a 280 (281) and another scored a 150 (180) after a follow-on and India won the series. Such things have happened. So you can’t count them out but technically, there are a lot of issues,” Gambhir was quoted as saying by Star Sports.
Gambhir added that it is too early to predict if India can win the series 4-0 and pointed out that Australia’s star batters, who have struggled in both matches, need to click as a unit to stage a comeback in the series.
“I cannot predict if it will be 4-0 because this dressing room still has individuals — Steve Smith, Labuschagne, Usman Khawaja — the batting will be extremely dependent on these three players if David Warner doesn’t play.”
“I believe you cannot teach defense to these batters now. If you try to improve your technique in the middle of the series, you won’t even score the 260 and 120 you scored. Only individual performances can help Australia stage a comeback and not a collective performance.”
“There are a lot of players in that dressing room who will have so many self-doubts that it will be extremely difficult to recover from that. Imagine if Usman Khawaja scores a double hundred or Steve Smith individually scores a century or 150, then Australia can achieve those scores but technically, I don’t see them coming back,” he concluded.
The third Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be played at Holkar Stadium in Indore from March 1-5, followed by the fourth and final game at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad from March 9-13.
–IANS
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