“It is more of Ravi Shastri’s team than Virat Kohli’s” – Monty Panesar credits the head coach for India’s Journey to WTC Finals

“It is more of Ravi Shastri’s team than Virat Kohli’s” – Monty Panesar credits the head coach for India’s Journey to WTC Finals

Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli

Monty Panesar, the former English cricketer credits Ravi Shastri over Virat Kohli for building up an extraordinary Indian team with high standards to compete in the World Test Championship final which is to take place between June 18-22, 2021. We have witnessed how the Indian team with no experienced player including the skipper Virat Kohli left to defend them after a humiliating 36 runs surrender in the first Test against Australia, managed to pull off something impossible by winning the series 2-1. Panesar gives complete credit to the Indian head coach, Ravi Shastri.

The 39-year-old former cricketer, who has played 50 test matches for England told India Today, “If one analyses the performance of India in the past few months, you can see that it is more of Ravi Shastri’s team than Virat Kohli’s. At least that’s what I feel.”

“It is Ravi Shastri who has built a self-belief in this Indian cricket team. What they achieved in Australia after the infamous ‘36’ in Adelaide is quite a miracle. They won the series even though their charismatic captain Virat Kohli didn’t play the rest of the series, and India kept losing players to injury. It was Shastri who got the job done for India against Australia that too in their backyard,” said Panesar.

“India must play both Jadeja and Ashwin in WTC finals,” says Monty Panesar

Monty Panesar
Monty Panesar

Monty Panesar feels that the WTC final can go either way. He said: “If there will be an overcast condition then Kane Willamson-led New Zealand will have an upper edge, but at the same time the Ageas Bowl has a great drainage system, and if weather permits and the game went on to Day four or five, India would have a great chance to win the championship.”

“India must play both Jadeja and Ashwin. There is no one better than these two at present in the world. They bowl in partnership, understand each other’s game, and overall they are street-smart cricketers,” he added.

Ashwin is the most experienced spinner which the present Indian squad has and he had also proved himself in the England Test series where the 34 year old Off spinner took 32 wickets. Meanwhile Jadeja has been consistently showcasing his standards with respect to ball, bat and field proving himself to be the world’s best all rounder.

Panesar’s India XI for WTC final:

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami.

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