'That's Fantastic Match Up'-Jason Gillespie Excited For This Player Battle of Border Gavaskar Trophy

The upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy will throw up a number of high end individual contests. This could be Rohit Sharma vs Josh Hazlewood, Ravi Ashwin vs Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon vs Cheteshwar Pujara. But one of them top it all, yes Virat Kohli vs Pat Cummins.

Kohli and Cummins have faced each other in multiple times, but Cummins leading the side and the ex-Indian captain trying his best for a sublime comeback, this could be the contest to look forward to. Let’s not forget that Kohli stepped down from the position of Test skipper last January and would like to make the best of the conditions against a quality opposition. Even against Bangladesh, he wasn’t able to account much despite a century in the ODIs.

Hyping the same, former Australia cricketer Jason Gillispie said he would be looking forward to this one.

“I am really looking forward to seeing (Virat) Kohli vs Cummins. That’s a fantastic match-up. It will be interesting to see how they go. When Virat comes out to bat, I would love to see Cummins take the ball and go at him straightaway. That will be great theatre, two wonderful cricketers at the top of their game,” Gillespie told Hindustan Times in a chat.

“Starc is obviously a left-armer and does get it to reverse very late. But Hazlewood and Cummins are equally good. They can all have a real impact with the old ball. Watch out for Green too. He can be a really awkward customer for the Indian batsmen. I think we will see the ball reverse swinging in this series,” he added.

Border Gavaskar Trophy is a four-match Test series which begins on February 9 in Nagpur.

‘Don’t Understand’-Michael Clarke Questions Why Australia Are Not Playing Tour Game Before Border Gavaskar Trophy

Melbourne: Former Australia captain Michael Clarke cannot fathom why Pat Cummins’ side is not playing practice or tour games ahead of the Border-Gavaskar series, beginning in India on February 9.

Australia will be touring India for the four-Test series, with the opening game scheduled at Nagpur, and Clarke opined that not playing a tour game could have a “significant” impact on the outcome.

“That’s the part (not playing tour games) I don’t understand,” Clarke was quoted as saying by Big Sports Breakfast on Tuesday.

“The no tour game before the first Test in India. I hope I’m proven wrong but I think that is going to be significant.”

Clarke, who played 115 Tests and scored more than 8,600 runs, added that playing 20-over or 50-over games in India was completely different from competing in the longest format, especially while countering spin.

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