The Indian cricket team is currently sitting at the number 2 position in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) points table. If India manages to remain in the top two by the end of the current 2021–23 cycle, Team India will play in the WTC decider for the second season in a row, which will be held at The Oval in London. For the unversed, the Indian cricket team had reached the final of the 2019–21 WTC cycle but failed to bag the title after losing against New Zealand in the final clash.
The Indian cricket team will be playing its final series of the ongoing cycle against Australia at home next month and if India manages to secure positive results in that going-to-be epic battle, then India will reach the final.
Meanwhile, senior Indian keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik, who played his last Test match for team India in August 2018, claimed that it won’t be easy for the Indian cricket team to qualify for the final showdown as they have to face the mighty Australians, who are in red-hot form.
As per Dinesh Karthik, the Indian cricket team will face an uphill task to qualify for the WTC final because they need to win at least three of the four Tests against Australia and their batters have shown a vulnerability to off-spin, which Australia’s best spinner Nathan Lyon bowls. Speaking on Cricbuzz, DK said:
“I think it is going to be a hard one. I really think it is going to be an uphill task for India. To win three out of four Tests is never easy. That would mean playing to our strengths and assuming that Australia’s weakness against spin will come through. But we have also not played off spin very well so it is a catch 22 situation for India,”
He added: “They (India) have to find a way to tackle off spin. Good thing is that Australia have just one spinner that they bank on. Whoever is the second spinner, whether it be Ashton Agar or Adam Zampa can be targetted.”
“For the moment, we should bank on the fact that we have three quality spinners who, on turning tracks, will be a handful to deal with. On a turning track, I would bank on Axar Patel a lot more because of his height and the natural variations he has got. But the Indian batters have to step up,”
It has to be noted that the Australian cricket team has failed to defeat team India in the Test series for nearly two decades. India has won the last 3 Test series between the two teams, two of which were played in Australia.
