While Indian Cricket team is schedule to play a series of 3 T20Is, 4 tests and 3 ODIs in Australia later this year, expert predictions have started coming out for the outcome of the series recently. While most of the fans and cricket experts are looking forward to it as a series between two of the best teams around the world, there are those which are considering it an easy pick for the Indian team in the wake of their recent performances. Although there is no reason to underestimate the might of the Aussie players at their own backyard, let’s take a look at some of the points which gives Indian team, an upper hand in the upcoming Australian tour.
The Absence of Warner and Smith from the Australian Squad
Although Australian Cricket team is always famous for performing as a bunch and not just Individual performances, the absence of their two main batsman, David Warner and Steven smith, has left a big void to be filled by. It needs to be mentioned that both Smith and Warner are going through bans put on them by Cricket Australia in the wake of their involvement in the Infamous “Sandpaper gate” incident.
Both Warner and Smith were found to be motivating Teammate Cameron Bancroft while tempering the ball with a Sandpaper and the same act was been caught in the Camera as well. Ever since then, Australian team is struggling with the absence of their Star players and still didn’t been able to find a Suitable replacement for the deadly batting Duo.
Top Form of the Indian Batting line up
The strength of the Indian Batting order is unknown to no one and this can certainly be quoted as one of the biggest reasons of giving the Indian team, an upper hand in the upcoming Australian tour. Rohit Sharma is in the form of his life and would be coming to the tour with all the positivity around him while his opening Partner Shikhar dhawan is coming after winning the Man of the series award in the recently concluded Asia cup.
On the other hand, words are not enough to describe the perfection carried by the Indian Captain Virat Kohli at the number 3 spot and he has done more than enough to prove his brilliance at every format for his national team over the years. Although players coming afterwards could be a subject of argument, but the team combination is enough to threaten any bowling attack at any given day.
Recent form of the Australian Team
Gone are the days when the Australian team used to be the Dominant power in the World of Cricket. Their current team is going through a bad run and continuously losing games in almost every format to the lower ranked teams. Same can also be justified by looking at their recent loss to the Pakistani team in T20s, ODIs and Test matches altogether which seriously put some bigger questions to the quality of cricket played by them at the International levels in the recent times.
The “Kohli” Factor
Virat Kohli has achieved almost every milestone which a cricketer always dreams of in the early days of his career. Quite recently, he has become the fastest batsman to achieve the 10000 ODI runs milestone and certainly be quoted as the best batsman of the current era in the entire three formats. Moreover, his Perfect Captaincy record comes as an icing on the cake and reason enough to send jitters to any opposition camp on any given day.
Lack of Motivation amongst the Australian Team
Even though Australian cricket has been through a bad run in previous times as well, their current state is de-motivating its players to a great level. While the Player’s association of Australian Cricketers is demanding to take off the ban from Smith, Warner and Bancroft, the Cricket Australia is adamant to do the same and this is something which is becoming a part of the controversies between the board and the Cricketers eventually.
On the other hand, most of the players have been looked upon in Suspicion manner after the infamous “Sandpaper gate” incident and this has dented the overall efforts of almost each and every player in the recent times.
The lethal Indian Pace Battery
Indian bowling has transformed over the years and its not the same team which used to stay dependent on one or two players down the line. The Current Indian squad is loaded with some of the best Bowling names like Bhuvneshwar kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed shami in the fast bowling department and almost each one of them has proved their mettle in the International arena in the recent times.
It was the same pace attack which even bamboozled a team like England in their own backyard and even though team India lost the ODI and test series, their pace bowlers have certainly made their mark in the International Cricket arena.
Injury concerns for Key Australian Players
Things doesn’t seems like going into the right direction for the Australian team as even after getting marred by all the controversies, they have lost some of their key players to Injuries. Usman Khawaja was the recent addition to the list who fell prey to injury during the series against Pakistan and he was amongst those few players who have excelled amongst the already- struggling Aussie squad in the recent times.
Moreover, their Key strike bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood are just coming back from a long spell of injuries which has kept them away from International cricket for a long time and still expected to take some more time to return to their best.
Indian Team with the better team balance than the Aussies
Though we already talked about the Batting line up, it’s the overall team combinations which also give Team India, an upper hand in the upcoming tour to Australia. While Australian Cricket team is still experimenting to find the best players for a certain spot, Indian team is coming along with the right balance in the all three formats.
They are loaded with one of the top class Batsman in the world currently with the likes of Rohit, Dhawan and Kohli present in their existing squad. Moreover, while the presence of Hardik Pandya and Ravindra jadeja as an all-rounder in the team gives them perfect options to go for in both batting and bowling department, The pace battery ( Bhuvi and Bumrah) and the Spin Duo( Chahal and Kuldeep) are capable enough to rattle any World class batting line up on their day.
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