Former Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram feels Virat Kohli’s legacy as a skipper will be defined by the manner he leads India in the four-match Test series against Australia, starting December 6.
The 29-year-old has been in terrific form with the bat in the recent past and was the leading run-scorer in India’s overseas Test series against South Africa and England. But despite his prolific run-scoring, Kohli failed to deliver as a captain as India went to series defeats, especially in England where they disappointingly lost by a 1-4 margin.
Kohli constantly was guilty of making some weird decisions in England like the Lords Test, where despite gloomy conditions and overhead clouds India went in with two spinners and two fast bowlers along with Hardik Pandya. It paid massive dividends as the English bowlers acclimatised the conditions better inflicting a heavy defeat on India.
“Yeah he’s got the best chance (to define his captaincy tenure), inexperienced young Aussie side, go all out and of course if they get early wickets that’s where the struggle for the bowlers is. I just worry about bowlers from India, Pakistan when they go there (Australia), sometimes they get excited with the bounce on the pitches, especially at Brisbane. So the idea is to pitch it up, don’t bowl short, short of length delivery, because they will be expecting that,” Akram was quoted as saying by NDTV.
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The Swing King also opened up on India’s pace attack, which although is at its best but will still struggle in Australia. The conditions in Kangaroo Island is very different from that of Australia and England and this will make the job difficult for India, said Akram.
“I think the Indian bowlers will have it tough. To start off, there are a couple of drop-in pitches in Adelaide, Melbourne, they are not bouncy tracks any more. Brisbane will have a little bit of bounce. I think at Perth they are playing in a new stadium, I don’t know what sort of pitch they have over there,” added the former World Cup-winning bowler.
“I think whenever India, Pakistan or teams from the sub-continent tour in Australia, the batsmen also struggle but now with the batting tracks, Indian batting is very consistent.”