Sunil Gavaskar labels Virat Kohli's Test side as 'best ever'
Little Master Sunil Gavaskar has termed the incumbent Test side under Virat Kohli as India's "best ever". He believes the balance, as well as temperament, has made the team scale new heights over the years. Gavaskar also opened up on India's pace bowling attack, stating the Indian skipper has got a varied bowling group. Here is more on what Gavaskar said.
This is the best ever Indian Test team: Gavaskar
"I believe this team is the best ever Indian Test team in terms of balance, in terms of ability, in terms of skills, in terms of temperament. Can't think of a better Indian Test team," Gavaskar said.
'India's bowling attack can prevail on any surface', says Gavaskar
Gavaskar further reiterated the Indian team has a distinguished bowling attack, that can disarray the opposition on any surface. "This team has the attack to win on any surface. It doesn't need any help in conditions, they can win on any surface. Batting-wise there were teams in 1980s that were pretty similar. But they didn't have the bowlers that Virat has," added Gavaskar.
India's pace bowling quartet
The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, and Umesh Yadav have been carrying the baton of pace bowling for India. The pace quartet scripted several records in India's SENA cycle that concluded with the New Zealand series. In 2018-19, the pacers helped India win their first ever Test series Down Under. Notably, Bumrah was India's leading wicket-taker with 21 scalps at 17.00.
Record of Indian pacers since January 2018 (Test cricket)
Since January 2018, Shami (85) has taken most number of Test wickets among Indian pacers, followed by Ishant (71), Bumrah (68) and Yadav (45). Last year, Indian seamers picked 19 wickets in the Kolkata Test against Bangladesh, most by an Indian pace attack at home.
Indian batsmen have struggled in testing conditions
Although Indian bowlers are ruling the roost, the batsmen have been under the scanner in foreign conditions. Despite taking 20 wickets, Team India was unable to deliver with the bat in South Africa, England and New Zealand. However, top-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara proved the differential in the Australian tour, having emerged as the leading run-scorer. He racked up 521 runs in the four Tests.
Indian batsmen need to score runs, feels Gavaskar
Gavaskar feels the batsmen also need to step up. "You need to score runs also. We saw that in England (2018). We saw that in South Africa when we went there. We got 20 wickets every time but we didn't score enough runs. But now I think we have also got the batting to be able to score more runs than Australians," he concluded.
