WTC Final: Yuvraj Singh picks Rohit and Gill as India openers, gives special advice to tackle the English conditions


WTC Final: Yuvraj Singh picks Rohit and Gill as India openers, gives special advice to tackle the English conditions

Yuvraj Singh, Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma

Former India cricketer Yuvraj Singh named Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill as the openers of the Virat Kohli-led side for the much-awaited ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Final. 

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Rohit and Gill have been opening together for team India in the longest format since the historic Australia tour. However, the latter went through a lean patch of runs during the home series against England. Gill is expected to continue at the WTC Final as well despite facing tough competition from Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw.

The former all-rounder mentioned that the current Indian opening pair doesn’t have the experience of batting against the Dukes ball in the English conditions. 

“Rohit Sharma is very experienced now in Test matches. He has almost 7 hundreds as an opener. But both Rohit and Shubman Gill have not opened in England ever,” Yuvraj told Sports Tak.

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“They know the challenge, the Dukes Ball swings early. They have to get used to the conditions quickly,” he added.

‘It’s important to take it one session at a time in England’: Yuvraj

Yuvraj Singh talks about WTC FInal
Yuvraj Singh talks about WTC Final

The ‘Player of the Tournament’ of the 2011 Cricket World Cup advised the Indian batsmen to deal with one session at a time in England.

“In England, it’s important to take it one session at a time. In the morning, the ball swings and seams, in the afternoon you can score runs, after Tea, it swings again. As a batsman, if you can adapt to these things, you can be successful,” the former left-hander said.

The southpaw also asserted that there should be a best of 3 Tests to declare the WTC Final winner. Earlier, India head coach Ravi Shastri had also said the same thing ahead of departing for the UK.

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“I feel in a situation like this, there should be a best of 3 Tests, because if you lose the first one then you can come back in the next two. India will have a slight disadvantage because New Zealand are already playing Test cricket in England,” Yuvraj said.

India and New Zealand are set to lock horns in the all-important clash from June 18 to June 22 at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton.

Also Read | List of umpires for World Test Championship final

Also Read | “Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma can thrive together,” says Ramiz Raja

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