"Kuldeep Yadav will be a big impact player" - Sanjay Bangar

Sanjay Bangar has picked Kuldeep Yadav as India's likely impact player in the bowling department in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Rohit Sharma and Co. will face Australia in a four-match Test series, with the first game to be played in Nagpur from Thursday, February 9. Kuldeep is the only wrist-spinner in the 17-member Indian squad picked for the first two Tests.

During an interaction on the Star Sports show 'Follow the Blues', Bangar was asked to pick the players to watch out for. The former Indian batting coach picked Kuldeep as a key player in the bowling department, elaborating:

"In the bowling department, I feel Kuldeep Yadav will be a big impact player because I remember the 2017-18 series at Dharamsala, he picked up those three or four wickets which laid the foundation for India winning the Test series."

Bangar expects India to field the left-arm wrist-spinner in at least two Tests, saying:

"India have some very good finger spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar Patel, whoever the team picks. But in at least two Test matches I foresee Kuldeep Yadav playing and keep making a big impact for the Indian team."

Kuldeep has picked up nine wickets in the two Tests he has played against Australia. He snared four wickets in the visitors' first innings of the series-deciding final Test in Dharamsala in 2017 and registered figures of 5/99 in the hosts' first innings of the 2019 Sydney Test.

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"Rohit Sharma is certainly going to relish the responsibility of leading the Indian team" - Sanjay Bangar

Bangar was also asked about Rohit Sharma's biggest challenge against Australia, to which he responded:

"Rohit Sharma is certainly going to relish the responsibility of leading the Indian team in a major India-Australia series. This is always a marquee series and in this, if you have a fantastic effort, that goes on to be remembered for a long, long time."

Bangar added that the Indian skipper will hope that he is fit and available for all four Tests, reasoning:

"Along with that, Rohit will also be very keen to play all the four Test matches because so far in his career, at times due to injuries and at times due to personal reasons, he hasn't been able to play four Test matches in a row against a top team like Australia."

"So he would certainly want to be at the top of his game, see off that new ball and present a brilliant aggressive approach against the spinners. That's how Rohit Sharma will be looking at this India-Australia series."

Rohit has aggregated 408 runs at a below-par average of 31.38 in seven Tests against Australia. He has never scored a century against the team from Down Under and will hope to break that duck in the upcoming series.