There is a thing which sounds incredulous to believe but it is part of a trend. Some players enjoying picking up a specific side and do well against them in all manners. India has a number of players who fancy Australian team as opponents but not everyone of them are part of this Indian side.
When last time Australia toured India, the home side defeated the visitors 2-1 after losing the first match in Ranchi. The highest scorers for India were Cheteshwar Pujara (405 runs in 4 matches) and KL Rahul (393 runs in 4 matches), both are part of the time this time. But how it will unfold is yet to be seen because they have struggled for their form in last two years when it comes to red ball cricket.
Talking about best bowlers, the series was totally dominated by the duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. The former picking 25 wickets at an outstanding average of 18.25 while the latter picked 21 wickets at an average of 27.38. Umesh Yadav was the only standout fast bowler who picked 17 wickets, rest of them from both teams didn’t even touch the double figure mark in their wicket column.
However, two of biggest players who did extremely well against Australia will not be part of this series. These players are Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah hasn’t achieved the statistical success that one might think of it but he is surely a threat.
He is known for delivering unsettling spells which often leads to wicket taking opportunities. It is only matter of time when he will comeback for India but without him, Indian team is surely lacking the sharpness one would accept them to have.
In the Border-Gavasker Trophy 2018-19, Jasprit Bumrah bagged 21 wickets in 4 matches at an staggering average of 17.00. That tells how destructive he can be, if he is on field, the captain is always trusting him to take wickets out of nowhere.
Rishabh Pant! What can be said about him. He just fancies the Australian team. Pant was crucial in pioneering India’s victory over Australia in 2018-19, scoring 350 runs in 4 matches at an average of 58.33. India will surely miss him because a number of times, he changed the whole game from the middle order.