New Delhi (India): Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has expressed confidence in India’s chances of winning the Melbourne Test against Australia in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT). With the series currently tied 1-1, Basit believes India has the “best chance” to dominate in Melbourne, especially with Australia looking worried about their position in the World Test Championship (WTC) final race.
The series has seen contrasting results so far, with India overpowering Australia in Perth, while the Baggy Greens made a strong comeback in Adelaide. The Brisbane Test, however, was washed out due to rain, leaving the series finely poised. Basit highlighted that with two Tests left and the WTC final spot on the line, the pressure is on Australia to perform, especially with difficult upcoming matches against Sri Lanka.
“India will have the best chance to win in Melbourne. There can be two spinners in Melbourne and Sydney. Australia is concerned about the possibility of missing out on the WTC final if they lose in Melbourne. Australia’s two matches against Sri Lanka won’t be easy. If the batters make the same mistakes as in Brisbane and Adelaide, then India will be in trouble,” Basit said on his YouTube channel.
In preparation for the fourth match of the five-match series, India made a squad change, bringing in uncapped Tanush Kotian to fill the void left by Ravichandran Ashwin’s retirement. The decision to include Kotian was explained by India captain Rohit Sharma, who noted that Kotian had recently been with the team during the Australia A series and was available to join the squad quickly.
“Yeah, Tanush was here a month ago (for the Australia A series). And Kuldeep (Yadav), I don’t think, has a visa (laughs). We wanted somebody who could get here as quickly as possible. Tanush was the one who was ready and he played here,” Sharma explained.
Rohit further emphasized that Kotian has shown solid performance in domestic cricket over the last two years, and the inclusion was purely to have a backup option in case India requires two spinners, particularly for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests.