IND v AUS 2020: 'India need their bowlers to get some wickets in Test series,' states Michael Holding
India's ODI series against Australia is done and dusted and the focus now shifts to the T20I series.
The Indian bowlers struggled to pick up early wickets in the first two one-dayers and that was one of the main reasons they ended up losing the ODI series 2-1.
Former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding said that this was something their bowlers couldn't afford to do in red-ball cricket.
Michael Holding stated that it would be extremely crucial for the Indian bowlers to pick up wickets regularly in the Tests against Australia, if they had any hope of winning their second consecutive Test series Down Under.
He thinks the pitches for the Test matches will aid the fast bowlers and the Men in Blue will have to make full use of the help that will be on offer.
The bowlers will have to step up, especially in the absence of their talisman Virat Kohli, who will head back to India after playing the first Test to attend the birth of his first child.
"It is going to be up to the bowling. They need the bowlers to get some wickets. It is a different situation with the red ball than with the white ball. We haven't seen the white-ball do anything. The ball doesn't do a lot in Australia anyway. But with the red ball in the Test match, you will get a little bit of bounce, you will get a little bit of seam movement because I suspect the Test match pitches will be a little bit more conducive to lateral movement than the one-day pitches. That is the area where I think India need to make sure that they produce, with the bowling to make sure that they can get wickets," Michael Holding said in a video on his YouTube channel.
It will be a lot easier for India to make up for Virat Kohli's absence in Tests: Michael Holding
Virat Kohli is India's best batsman across all three formats and Michael Holding reckons that the Men in Blue will miss him dearly for the majority of the Test series.
However, Michael Holding believed that it would be easier for India to make up for the absence of Kohli in Test cricket than in white-ball cricket, as India have many options up their sleeve.
He stated that it will be important for the Indian batsmen to step up together as a batting unit in Kohli's absence in order to post huge totals.
"Well, India is going to miss Kohli when he goes home for the Test series. There is no way they can make up that. They have some good batsmen and it will be a lot easier for them to try and make up for Virat Kohli's absence than in a one-day game. But going forward, they will be hoping that the batsmen will be really able to take up the slack," Michael Holding asserted.
The first Test between India and Australia will be played at Adelaide from December 17 and will be a Day-Night encounter.