‘If Kohli, Pujara weren’t good against spin, they wouldn’t…’ – Former Indian opener’s big statement ahead of 4th BGT Test against India

In the third Test of the series, which was played last week in Indore, Team India was thrashed by Australia. Australia put on a strong display in the three-day Test, bowling out the hosts for just 109, building a lead of 88 runs at the Holkar Stadium on a very difficult surface, and then cruising to a target of 75 runs with nine wickets remaining. Australia qualified for the World Test Championship final, which will take place at the Oval from June 7–11, with the victory as well.

While nine of the team’s ten dismissals in the first innings of the Indore Test came against spinners, with one run out, India’s issues with dealing with spin bowling continued. The ability of Indian batters to play spinners has drawn criticism from many cricket fans and ex-players, who also maintain that the host team’s attempts to construct spin-friendly wickets in the third Test totally failed.

I feel playing on turning tracks is fine: Gautam Gambhir

Nevertheless, according to former India opener Gautam Gambhir, if Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara weren’t “good players of spin,” they wouldn’t have been able to win 100 Test matches. “I don’t think so. People like (Cheteshwar) Pujara, (Virat) Kohli, Rohit Sharma are good players of spin bowling. If they weren’t, they won’t have played in 100 Tests (Pujara and Kohli have featured in 100+ Tests so far),” Gambhir was quoted as saying in Sports Today.

“You have to be very good player of spin and fast bowling to reach that mark. One thing that has changed is that the DRS has played a massive role. When there was no DRS and no LBW on the front foot, a lot of times you had to change your technique as well. People don’t talk about that too much,” the former Indian opener added.

“But despite the former opener’s insistence that tests should go beyond three days, none of the three tests for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy had gone past the fourth. “I feel, yes, playing on turning tracks is fine, but I won’t appreciate Test matches finishing in 2.5 days. We want to see tight finishes, like the one we saw in the New Zealand vs England Test. (If a Test goes to) 4th or 5th day, it is fine. But 2.5 days is too short,” asserted the 41-year-old.