WTC Final: Karsan Ghavri worried about India’s lack of match practice

Former Indian cricketer Karsan Ghavri expressed his concerns about India entering the World Test Championship (WTC) final without enough practice games. However, the 70-year-old believes that India will still end up doing well.

India’s opponent New Zealand, on the other hand, have played a two-Test series against England, which has helped them acclimatize ahead of the big final.

Speaking to Prasar Bharati Sports about India’s chances in the match, the former all-rounder said:

“India should do well in the World Test Championship final. Unfortunately, our team won’t get enough time there to prepare themselves. They are going into a Test without adequate preparation, but I am confident that India will do well.”

Ghavri was one of the best utility cricketers produced by India. He bowled left-arm pace in the initial stages of the innings and later spun the ball after it lost its shine. Gavri represented India in 39 Tests between 1975 and 1981.

The forgotten skill of this little Indian legend....🇮🇳Happy birthday to Karsan Ghavri, who turns 70 today!In the same test match, he dismissed the same batsman twice, first by bowling spin, and then by medium pace. And that batsman was no slouch- Greg Chappell!1981 GOLD pic.twitter.com/v3ZxR5HpvN

— Rob Moody (@robelinda2) February 28, 2021

"Kohli, Shastri have helped India reach incredible heights"

Ghavri praised Indian captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri for their vision and efforts that have helped India scale new heights across formats. However, he feels India need to find more quality spinners as back-up to Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

“If you go by the statistics, they [Kohli and Shastri] have helped India reach the top level across formats. We have some great quality players in the side. Earlier, we would say that India lacks quality fast bowlers. Today, we have 4-5 of them.

“One department where India lacks quality options is the spin department. We do have Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. But apart from them, we don’t have spinners who are consistent enough. Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav still have some distance to go,” Karsan Ghavri added.

Left-arm spinner Axar Patel has made a great start to his Test career, picking up 27 wickets from three Tests. However, all of his matches have come on home surfaces that typically assist spinners. Patel has also been left out of India’s 15-member squad for the WTC final, which begins on Friday.

🗒️ #TeamIndia announce their 15-member squad for the #WTC21 Final 💪 👇 pic.twitter.com/ts9fK3j89t

— BCCI (@BCCI) June 15, 2021