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|| India Correspondent ||
Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir has supported current India captain Virat Kohli as captain of the Test team, citing that he never had any doubt over his leadership in ODI or Test cricket. Gambhir said that Kohli has done well as the captain of Test cricket and he is expected the team to go a long way under his captaincy as well.
"Time and times again! Yes, Virat Kohli is the leader, but I’m sure he gotta be as happy as the rest of the squad as well, but at the same time, yes, he has done really well in Test cricket. I’ve always had question marks on his T20 captaincy. Never had question marks on his 50-over or his Test match captaincy. India has done really well under his leadership, especially in red ball cricket and I’m sure, India will continue to grow further, under his leadership, especially in red ball cricket," Gambhir said on Star Sports’ show Game Plan.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli is all set to return in the international cricket and take over his captaincy duty too. He said that Kohli should lead from the front as a batsman too in the upcoming series to make it to the World Test Championship as well.
"As any cricketer would say, it’s not about hundreds, it’s about the runs you can score to help your team win is very important. And yes, it clearly doesn’t matter if Virat hasn’t batted in Australia, obviously he would love to, but the most important thing is that he has to look forward to is the England series and he knows that how important the England series is if they want to qualify for the World Test Championship final," he added.
However, Team India will host England for a full-fledged series where the campaign will begin with the four-match Test series in Chennai. And, the veteran left-handed batsman has predicted that India will win three Tests.
"It has to be 3-0 India or probably 3-1. I’m only going to give a Pink Ball Test match, probably 50-50 to England just from the conditions point of view. I don’t see England winning any of the Test matches with the kind of spin attack they’ve got," he said.
Meanwhile, England are coming off a 2-0 series win in Sri Lanka. On the other hand, India beat Australia 2-1 in the recently-concluded series as well. And, Gautam Gambhir said that it will be a tough challenge for England to face India at home.
"This is going to be a completely different challenge for someone like Joe Root. Yes, he has played really well in Sri Lanka, but when you have to face people like Jasprit Bumrah on any wicket, or for that matter, Ravichandran Ashwin, when his confidence is sky-high after what he has done in Australia, I am sure it is going to be a completely different beast and a completely different ball game," he concluded.