Legendary Sri Lanka cricketer Mahela Jayawardene has used his platform on The ICC Review to share his predictions for the upcoming Test series between India and Australia.
Jayawardene believes that despite India’s strong record of not losing a Test series at home in 11 years, Australia have a good chance of winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
Australia is currently the No.1 ranked Test team in the world, with only one loss in the World Test Championship cycle so far.
They are in a prime position to secure a spot in the June final of the tournament, and a positive result in India would seal their qualification.
India and Australia are both occupying the top two spots in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Rankings and the ICC World Test Championship standings, making this series a highly anticipated one.
Jayawardene also spoke highly of India’s Shubman Gill, whose recent form in white-ball cricket has been a huge boost for India.
He believes that Gill’s technical soundness and ability to play pace well will give him an advantage against the Australian attack.
Jayawardene said, “He is in great form at the moment and if he converts that into red-ball cricket and has that tempo, maturity, understanding of the situations and conditions, he’d be a great asset at the top of the line-up for India.”
“He does give them those good starts at a good tempo to put opposition bowling attacks under pressure.”
While it is difficult to predict the outcome of the series, Jayawardene said he is hoping for an Australia win, with a 2-1 victory for the Men in Yellow.
He acknowledged that it will be a tough series but said that it will be fascinating to see how each team starts and who will gain momentum.
Despite his support for Australia, Jayawardene is also encouraged by Sri Lanka’s performance, as they have risen from being ranked 7th in the world at the start of the Test Championship cycle to being in a position to play in the final.
He hopes that Sri Lanka can have a successful series against New Zealand and that Australia can do them a few favours in India.
The four-Test tour of India by Australia begins on February 9, and the final Test is scheduled to start on March 9.
Sri Lanka will travel to New Zealand for a two-Test tour in March, with the first match in Christchurch coinciding with the final fixture in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
