New Delhi, Aug 23 (UNI) Legendary Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar has called the current Virat Kohli led Test side, the 'best-ever Indian team' in terms of balance, skills, ability and temperament.
Under Kohli’s captaincy, India reached the top of ICC Test rankings and the team is currently at number one spot in the World Test Championship standings.
Virat has also already won the most number of Test matches as captain for India. He started his captaincy stint in 2014 when he took over the reins from MS Dhoni in Test cricket and then was also handed the duties of limited-overs cricket in 2017.
He also became the first India skipper to win a Test series in Australia in 2018-19 tour.
'I believe this team is the best ever Indian Test team in terms of balance, in terms of ability, in terms of skills, in terms of temperament. Can’t think of a better Indian Test team,' Gavaskar said during the 'India Today's e-Conclave Inspiration series.
Pointing the difference between other Indian sides of the past and the present one, Gavaskar said that India currently have the bowling attack capable of taking 20 wickets in every game irrespective of the opposition and conditions.
According to Gavaskar, India always had a brilliant batting unit in the past, it is the transformation of the bowling attack that inspires confidence in the current side.
In the current team, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami are the leaders of that pace attack which includes a revolving cast of talented seamers including Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and wily veteran Ishant Sharma while the likes the Jadeja and Ashwin are present in the spin department.
The former India opener also pointed out that India now has a more balanced batting line-up which can outscore the best teams in the world.
"Definitely, without a question. India has got such a varied bowling attack today and that is so essential. There is a saying that "if you don't take twenty wickets you won't win a match" no you need to score runs also. We saw that in England in 2018. We saw that in South Africa in 2017 when we went there. We got 20 wickets every time but we didn't score enough runs. But now I think we have also got the batting to be able to score more runs than Australians," the former captain said.
"This team has the attack to win on any surface. It doesn’t need any help in conditions. Irrespective of the conditions, they can win on any surface. Batting-wise there were teams in the 1980s, that were pretty similar. But they didn’t have the bowlers that Virat Kohli has,' he added.
UNI AVK RJ 1748