Internet Desk: Indian cricket team is going through a dream run, as they are unbeaten in last 19 Test matches and Kohli’s men would like to continue their dominance at home when they will lock horns with the mighty Australian side in the four-match Test rubber, beginning at Pune on Wednesday.
This series against the Aussies is the last home series for India of the 2016-17 season. Earlier Kohli led team India had beaten New Zealand (3-0), England (4-0) and neighbor Bangladesh (one-off Test).
India will be looking forward to seal their seventh consecutive series win going back to the three-Test away rubber against Sri Lanka in 2015.
There are several reasons in India’s great run, chief among those being skipper Virat Kohli’s phenomenal run with the bat. The young captain has truly led from the front by scoring four double hundreds on a trot.
Kohli is averaging over 80 after accumulating 1457 runs in the last 13 Tests and Australia will need to find ways to curtail his brilliance to stop the Indian Juggernaut.
The other major factor has been the excellent bowling by spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, incidentally the top two bowlers in the ICC rankings.
Off-spinner Ashwin has grabbed 78 wickets in 13 games during the same period with 8 five-fors at an average of just over 24 while left-armer Jadeja has scalped 49 wickets in 10 Tests at just under 25.
The spin twins, who combined forces to rout New Zealand and England, again pose a major threat to the Australians.
In addition to these three players’ consistent performance, the support from batsmen such as opener Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara and from other bowlers has been invaluable.
The stubborn lower-order batting has often helped the team come out of tricky situations and score big.
As coach Anil Kumble pointed out yesterday, India have not fielded the same eleven during this successful phase due to a variety of reasons including injuries. But each replacement has been bang-on and delivered the goods.
India’s unbeaten 19-Test run commenced with a victory in the second Test of the series in Sri Lanka.