The Border-Gavaksar Trophy gets underway from February 9 with players from both the teams getting their preparations underway. Australia are the world’s top-ranked Test team but they know India have been nearly unbeatable at home in recent years.
Australia last won a Test series on Indian soil in 2004 and are hoping the wait will end in 2023. The job is easier said than done though considering the challenging conditions their batters will have to ace in order to give themselves a chance.
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For India, while the spinners will be the key but their batters will also have to be at their peak considering the world-class attack Australia boast of that includes captain Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon among others.
Rishabh Pant has been one of the prime batters for India in this format but he’ll be missing the series as he recovers from injuries of a horrific car crash he was involved in last December. His ability to counterattack irrespective of the match situation or pitch condition made him an invaluable asset.
However, Pant isn’t the only batter India will be missing. It looks unlikely that Shreyas Iyer will be fit for the series opener in Nagpur due to a back issue.
While Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have arguably been India’s top batters across formats, their teammate Ravichandran Ashwin thinks that it’s Shreyas who has emerged to become as the go-to batter in Test cricket now.
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“Shreyas Iyer has been India’s go-to Test batter alongside Rishabh Pant in the last couple of years. That in itself is a lesser compliment for him. He has been the backbone of this batting order. He is going to be a crucial player for India in Pant’s absence,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Shreyas was ruled out of the New Zealand limited-overs series due to back injury as he checked into the National Cricket Academy to start his rehabilitation. While he’s part of India’s Test squad for the Australia series, there’s been no official word from the BCCI regarding his availiblity.
Ashwin though has some update.
“He (Shreyas) has a problem in his back and has taken an injection, it seems,” he said.
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