If Ishant Sharma is fit, send him to Australia now: Sunil Gavaskar

Tags: India tour of Australia, 2020-21, India, Australia

Published on: Dec 21, 2020

With Mohammed Shami being ruled out of the remaining three Tests versus Australia and Virat Kohli unavailable as he is on paternity leave, Indian great Sunil Gavaskar wants experienced paceman Ishant Sharma to be flown to Australia if he is fit.

During India’s miserable loss to Australia at Adelaide, Gavaskar admitted Shami’s injury is a massive worry for the Indian team.

“It (Shami injury) is a big problem. he has the knack of taking wickets, he can shock the opposition with his bouncers and yorkers. If he is not playing, then it’s going to be trouble for India,” Gavaskar told Sports Tak

He thus went on to add that, if fit, India must send an SOS to Ishant Sharma. “If Ishant Sharma is fit, I am suggesting to send him to Australia now. If he is capable of bowling 20 overs in a day, the management should send him to Australia on tomorrow’s flight so that he can be ready for the Sydney Test,” he added.

According to Gavaskar, who had many memorable duels with the Aussies in his heyday, while Navdeep Saini is a talented bowler, he hasn’t looked in great form in the practice matches.

“I am saying India should look at taking a chance because there is no proper back-up now. Navdeep Saini has the potential to pick wickets but the way he bowled in the warm-up matches, it doesn’t look like he will be able to trouble the Australia batsmen,” Gavaskar went on to add.

India and Australia will face each other in the second Test at MCG starting December 26, Boxing Day

After finding themselves in a decent position, India collapsed to 36 all out on Day 3 of the Adelaide Test. This is India’s lowest Test score, beating the previous worst of 42 against at Lord’s in 1974.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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