Bhubaneswar: Former Australia cricketer Jeff Thomson, considered to be one of the fastest bowlers to have played the game, has predicted that India will beat Australia in the Test series Down Under later this year.
Thomson’s prediction was based on how Virat Kohli and Co have improved and the cricketing standard has gone down in Australia in the recent past.
For the third time this year, Kohli and his team will head on an overseas tour. After South Africa and England, the Indian team will be travelling to Australia later in November for a two-month long campaign in which they will play three T20Is, four Tests, and three ODIs. India’s tour of Australia begins on November 21 with the T20Is. The first Test begins on December 6 in Adelaide.
Similar to the narrative on the previous two foreign tours, India’s performance in the Test series will be under the scanner. On paper, India were considered worthy contenders but the result on both occasions so far in 2018 did not prove to be so. India lost the Test series in South Africa 1-2 and in England 1-4. But with Australia suffering yet another series loss and some of their best players out of action, India are once again projected to beat the Aussies come December.
“My money is on India,” Thomson said, addressing reporters at the Ekamra Sports LitFest in Bhubaneswar. “It’s a very solid team and has improved considerably. Over the years fielding has improved a lot. Both batting and bowling has been at the top and India should steamroll Australia in the Test series.”
The 68-year-old was wary of Australia’s current standard of cricket and said that with David Warner and Steve Smith out of the team, they do not have a team to play Test cricket.
“The current team is losing to Pakistan and they will now play South Africa,” he said. “India is the only good series. But their footwork against Pakistan was too bad and no technique to play Test cricket. All they know is to smack the ball and that is because of T20 cricket.”
India came close to beating Australia four years ago but lost the four-match series 2-0 despite coming close to winning two Tests. Kohli debuted as captain on that series and will once again lead India in their quest for a first Test series win Down Under.
Thomson is also expecting Kohli to lead from the front, play hard and inspire the Indian team on the tour which will not be easy for them.
“Kohli is a good batsman, plays cricket the hard way and puts in a lot of effort,” Thomson said. “He is a great batter. No, he can’t [win the series alone]. You need a lot of help from the team and he has a great bunch of players. I hope the rest of the team plays plays as hard he does.”
The former pacer also had some advice for the Australian bowlers on the ways to control Kohli and his team during the Test series.
“It’s not easy to bowl out a batsman of quality and Kohli is great,” Thomson said. “For me, let them not score in the first over they face. They will be frustrated for that time and play a bad shot after playing that over. It’s the way to get them out. I think Kohli will not play a bad shot because he’s good but others may.”
‘Waugh began sledging’
Giving an insight into the Australia team and how they became a side infamous for sledging, Thomson said that was not the culture during his playing days. He added that it was only after 1991 when Steve Waugh was the captain that Australia began sledging.
“I never sledged and we used to avoid those things. But back in 1991 when Waugh was there, he used to mouth a lot. His team had some of the biggest names and it began with that team,” he said.
Thomson, however, was critical of Cricket Australia and their ban on three Australian cricketers – Smith, Warner and Cameroon Bancroft. The three were banned by CA after their involvement in the ball-tampering incident during the South Africa series earlier this year.
“It has been happening for long and not the first time. But what they did to Smith and Warner was bad. No cricketer should be banned for 12 months from cricket. It was just bad handling of the incident,” he said.