FAZEER ON BGT

CCNTV6

This Test series is one that everyone's been waiting for.  It's the Border Gavaskar Trophy which starts at 10.20pm TT time, with India taking on hosts Australia in the opener in Perth.  Cricket analyst Fazeer Mohammed says India cannot be underestimated, despite having a disastrous series against New Zealand recently.

Transcript

00:00The Border Gavaskar Trophy has been played 16 times with India winning on 10 occasions

00:05while the Aussies have 5 under their belt with 1 draw.

00:08The teams will meet again but this time in a 5 match series down under with Game 1 in Perth.

00:18There are those who see the Border Gavaskar Trophy as being bigger than the Ashes

00:22because India have been more competitive than the English in Australia.

00:25According to cricket analyst Fazir Mohammed, India cannot be underestimated despite having new faces on the side.

00:32India now are at a stage where there is so much competition for places in their team

00:37that even after the embarrassment, the humiliation of losing 3-0 at home to New Zealand

00:43you can expect them to come fighting back even without a Rohit Sharma or some other key player

00:48because they do have that quality.

00:50Obviously Australia are likely to start favourites as the home team with their strongest XI available

00:56but I don't think from what we've seen of Indian cricket over the last decade

01:00that you could count out another magnificent fight back.

01:03Mohammed says the opening position might be a headache for Australia as David Warner is no longer there.

01:08Having said that, here are some of the key players for the Aussies.

01:12I think Usman Khawaja is going to be a key man at the top.

01:15On the bowling side and on the captaincy side, I think Pat Cummins is a key player, a key contributor with runs as well.

01:21Nathan Lyon, even though the first test match is starting on a pacey Perth pitch

01:26with his bounce that he can extract and his experience, he is going to be a factor as well throughout the series.

01:31For India, Mohammed is looking at Virat Kohli despite low scores at test level for some time

01:36and also Rishabh Pant who won his side the Gabba test and series on the last tour.

01:42Overall, I think India have the strength and depth that the bowling I think is going to fare well.

01:48The batting will be a concern on the bouncier tracks

01:51but I think India's attitude towards playing in Australia is far more aggressive now.

01:57That timidity and being fearful of the conditions, that is long gone.

02:01I think they come to these series on the front foot

02:04and therefore it should make for a really intriguing Borda-Gavaskar series.

02:08If you had to predict a scoreline, what would you go with?

02:11The way I see it, 3-2 Australia.

02:13Just for the record, India won the last four Borda-Gavaskar trophies,

02:17two on the subcontinent and two down under.

02:20Vinod Narwani, TV6 Sport.

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