"I don't think they have such bright chances" - Aakash Chopra on Australia's Border-Gavaskar Trophy hopes
Aakash Chopra doesn't concur with the Australian media and former players who believe the visitors have a great chance to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
India will host Australia for a four-match Test series, with the first game to be played in Nagpur from Thursday, February 9. Most Australian ex-players believe Pat Cummins and Co. will emerge triumphant in the series, especially if the games are not played on rank turners.
In a video shared on his YouTube, Chopra was pessimistic about Australia's chances of winning the series, saying:
"If we talk about the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, we are winning continuously. We have won the last three times. We have gone to their home and defeated them twice. People are saying that they have a chance to win but I think they don't. I don't think they have such bright chances."
The former Indian opener feels the visitors don't have a bowling attack that can dismiss India twice, observing:
"If you listen to the Australian media or former cricketers, it seems it is an even contest, that Australia will beat India and that they are an amazing team. I feel batting is okay but who will bowl? Who will pick up 20 wickets in bowling?"
However, Chopra reckons Australia can beat India if the matches are played on rank turners. He urged the curators to prepare pitches that do not offer too much turn, reasoning that the hosts cannot lose if the match lasts five days.
"I don't see might in the bowling apart from Pat Cummins and Lyon" - Aakash Chopra
Chopra believes Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon are the only potent weapons in Australia's likely bowling attack for the first Test, elaborating:
"I don't see might in the bowling apart from Pat Cummins and Lyon, that's my personal opinion. Ashton Agar and Swepson are there, Boland might also play, but that much might is not there. Neither Starc nor Hazlewood is available. I think Cameron Green is also not available for the first match."
Cameron Green set to miss the first Test against India in Nagpur.
The renowned commentator feels the visitors might have been better served had Adam Zampa been part of their squad, stating:
"Then the bowling becomes extremely weak. You don't have too many bowling options. I feel there might have been a little more difference if they had brought Zampa, but Ashton Agar and Swepson - they can run through the Indian team only if you give them a rank turner."
While Lyon scalped 19 wickets in four Tests in Australia's last visit to India in 2017, Cummins accounted for eight dismissals in the two games he played. India could be troubled by Ashton Agar on a square turner, considering Steve O'Keefe's 12-wicket haul bowled Australia to a win on such a surface in Pune in that series.