Yuvraj pointed out that it's important that the two India openers assess the conditions and take it one session at a time.
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Former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh believes that it will be extremely important for the openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill to get used to English conditions as soon as possible. India are set to play the final of the maiden edition of the World Test Championship (WTC) against New Zealand from June 18. This will be followed by a five-match Test series against England, starting from August 04.
“Rohit Sharma is very experienced now in Test matches. He has almost 7 hundreds, 4 hundreds as opener. But both Rohit and Shubman Gill have not opened in England ever,” said Yuvraj in an interaction with Sports Tak.
“They know the challenge, the Dukes Ball swings early. They have to get used to the conditions quickly. 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. On the other hand, Shubman is a very young guy, still inexperienced but he should feel confident about his success in Australia. So, if he has the belief, he can do well anywhere else in the world,” he added.
While the Indian players have start training outdoors individually in Southampton, they will not enjoy match practice ahead of the final of the WTC. New Zealand in comparison will enjoy an advantage considering the ongoing two-match Test series against England.
Yuvraj expressed his approval of Team India head coach Ravi Shastri’s viewpoint that the WTC final should be converted into a 3-match series.
“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,” he said.
“There are 8-10 practice sessions but there’s no substitute for match-practice. It will be an even contest but New Zealand will have an edge,” concluded Yuvraj.
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