Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ramiz Raja said that the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be a massive test for Rohit Sharma as a captain with his strategies and team selections proving to be the deciding factors in the series. India take on Australia in the first Test match in Nagpur starting February 9 and Raja believes that the hosts will need to have absolute clarity about the playing conditions themselves in order to outsmart the visitors and clinch the highly-anticipated series.
"Rohit Sharma's captaincy will be put to the test, there is no doubt about that. There isn't going to be a single session in the first Test where Australia won't fight hard. There won't be any flat sessions. The strategy needs to be full-proof and so does the selection. There also needs to be clarity over the conditions they want to trump Australia," Raja said on his official YouTube channel.
The Indian cricket team playing XI has been the point of contention for quite some time. While KL Rahul and Shubman Gill remain the top choices to open the batting with skipper Rohit, Raja made it clear that Suryakumar Yadav needs to make his Test debut in order to maintain the team composition.
"India should play Suryakumar Yadav. He will generate pace with the bat. They have named a lot of T20 players in their squad for the first two Tests, which is good because action is what gets a thumbs-up from everyone in Test cricket these days. We saw how England scored 350-400 runs in a single day against Pakistan. The more pace you generate, the more pressure you can create. India have a great opportunity to create pressure," Raja said.
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.