India are on course to cement a spot in the finals of the Global Test Championship to be played at the Oval between 7 and 11 June 2023. They need to win the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) Test series against Australia with a margin of 3-0 or 3-1 to qualify for the final of the coveted event. The hosts are already 2-0 up and depending on the results of the upcoming third Test in Indore, the management may decide on simulating English conditions in the series showdown at Ahmedabad as a preparation game for the summit clash in England.
“It will be a different ball game (facing Australia in England) for both teams, actually. There is definitely a possibility of that (Ahmedabad as preparatory game for Test Championship final). We have already spoken about it. We need to get the guys ready for it,” India skipper Rohit said in a media interaction.
‘Shardul Thakur is an important player overseas’ – Rohit Sharma
Sharma further highlighted the importance of the recently married Shardul Thakur in overseas conditions. “The important one is Shardul Thakur because he comes into the planning for us. We don’t know how ready he is since he has just got married (laughs). We don’t know how many overs he has bowled. But that thought process is definitely there. If we get the result we want here (Indore), we might think of doing something different in Ahmedabad for sure. But we are not there yet. We have to win this game and then talk about it. That’ll be the right thing to do,” he said.
India are on their way towards achieving a 16th straight series win at home. Although these achievements have been on home soil, the Indian captain is of the view that these achievements are not to be belittled.
“Yes there are home conditions but they are challenging conditions; it is not easy for the batters to score runs consistently.” Australia have collapsed in the second innings of both BGT Tests and the skipper said it shows how hard it is to play in Indian conditions. “Yeah….that’s the beauty of this game and the pitches we are playing on. It can happen to us as well, not just them. I played 200 balls in Nagpur and never felt set. It just takes one ball to grip or keep low and you are out. On pitches like this, you are never in. Yes, we have quality spinners who can change things around just like that but that does not give us the guarantee that we are going to win the Test or roll them over in one session. We have got to keep the discipline going,” he said.
