Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, who is celebrating his 75th birthday on Wednesday (July 10), wants star all-rounder Hardik Pandya to start playing Test cricket for India again. According to the member of the 1983 World Cup-winning team, the Indian team could become invincible and win the World Test Championship (WTC) and Test series in Australia later this year if the Baroda-based cricketer, who has played a red-ball match for India in 2018, returns.
During an interview with Revsportz, the first batter to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket said that India can dominate the five-day format of the game and BCCI should make efforts to convince Pandya to play Test cricket.
“Yes, absolutely, they can. I think in the next two months, there should be an attempt to convince Hardik Pandya to play Test cricket. If he bowls ten overs a day to go with his batting, this Indian team could become invincible, and they can surely go on and win the WTC and beat Australia in Australia,” Gavaskar stated.
India has twice reached the final of the WTC but, on both occasions, ended up losing.
Under Rohit Sharma’s leadership, the team is sitting in the No. 1 position in the WTC 2023-25 points table, and if they manage to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand in Test series at home and Australia on away soil, then for the third season in a row, India will play in the final of the World Test Championship.
The final of the ongoing WTC cycle is scheduled to take place at the Lord’s next year.
Hardik to become T20I captain?
30-year-old Pandya, who has led India in 16 T20Is so far, is leading the race to become the new captain of the Indian men’s T20I team. He was Rohit Sharma’s deputy in the T20 World Cup 2024, and now, after his retirement from the shortest format of the game following India’s win in the final, he is the favourite to take the top job.
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