Shubhman Gill and Rohit Sharma, the openers of India will have to play a pivotal role in the ICC WTC (World Test Championship) final 2023, starting from 7th June at The Oval onwards. Rohit Sharma had a torrid IPL 2023 when he looked in two minds whether to attack or defend which hurt the team a lot. Rohit Sharma should play his natural attacking game and decimate the opposition rather than playing defensive cricket.
Shubman Gill had an outstanding IPL 2023, accumulating remarkable 890 runs in 17 innings and was in a beast mode with a highest score of 129. Thus he will look to replicate his form in the ICC WTC finals. However, Rohit Sharma wasn’t his best this IPL season by only scoring 242 runs in 10 innings, despite his IPL score his batting performance in Test has always been phenomenal and he will look to play smartly against Australia.
“Mitchell Starc And Pat Cummins, Running At 145 Km/hr, It Is Going To Be Challenging..”- Jaffer
Wasim Jaffer who was having an interaction with Indian Express feels that England isn’t an easy pitch to bat on due to its conditions that change so drastically due to the weather, and the openers might struggle due to it. He stated:
“Openers will have to play a massive role. England is the most challenging place to bat because of the sideways movement. Conditions change so drastically because of the weather. It changes quickly.” said Wasim Jaffer.
“The duke’s ball also poses a lot of problems. As the ball gets old, it will keep swinging and also starts to reverse. With Starc and Cummins, running at 145 kph, it is going to be challenging, Cummins will be a different beast with the duke’s balls. If the conditions will be slightly in favour of them, then they will make life miserable for the Indian Openers” Jaffer added.
Indian Squad Might Struggle To Adjust Into Test Format
It will be challenging for the Rohit Sharma led side to adapt to the conditions, as they haven’t played Test matches for 2 months except Pujara. They would need time to adjust from white ball cricket to red ball. However Jaffer said that
“While it might be a tough job to switch from white ball to red ball, modern players are used to making such a rapid change in less time,” Jaffer stated.
Indian players have played rigorous white ball cricket in the last two months, and that might affect their play in ICC WTC finals 2023. It is going to be difficult without having any practice match and only four or five days of preparation.
However, it’s not something unique for Indian players now, they adapt to the change quickly says Jaffer, he also added
“I am sure nowadays cricketers have learnt to make that switch quickly,” he added.