File image of Matthew Hayden© Twitter
The absence of the dashing Rishabh Pant, who is recovering from injuries sustained in a car accident in December, leaves a big void in India’s Test eleven, said Matthew Hayden, who is backing Ishan Kishan to don the wicketkeeping gloves instead of K S Bharat. “One of the big losses to Indian cricket right now is Rishabh Pant. If I was an Indian selector, I certainly go with the more dynamic wicketkeeper batter Ishan Kishan, he also adds that bit of swagger to the batting line up and in the fielding unit as well.” The spinners could play a role at The Oval as the game progresses and that is why Hayden said India must play both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
“What works for India is two spinners. It doesn’t work for Australia, apart from the outrageous turners that we saw in India during the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
“I know the Australian combination will always want to have three quicks. Obviously, Nathan Lyon‘s is our spinner and Cameron Green can play as an all rounder. I mean, that’s, that’s how important Cameron Green is. That’s a powerful and important role that he plays as an all rounder. So it’s great to have him in form,” he said.
‘You are going see a lot of Shubman Gill for the next 15 years’
Hayden concluded with rich praise for the in-form Shubman Gill. “You will see a lot of Shubman Gill for the next 15 years. The foundations behind a good Test cricketer are pretty simple. And Shubman, and KL Rahul before him, fundamentally have fantastic games. So, he’ll be a superstar of any cricket format for a very long time.
“One of the biggest advantages that Shubman has and he showed this when he was touring Australia is he’s very good off the backfoot as well.
“So square of wicket play is excellent. And that’ll stand him in good stead even against the best Test sides in the world,” Hayden added.
Topics mentioned in this article