Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Dinesh Karthik picks Virat Kohli and Steve Smith as the key batters in India vs Australia series
Indian wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik believes Virat Kohli and Steve Smith are the two key batters for their respective sides in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy starting in Nagpur on Thursday.
While picking his five key players for the series on his Instagram reel titled DK Style, Karthik said, ” The first two are obvious choices Virat Kohli for India and Steve Smith for Australia. Virat Kohli mainly because when he gets going he makes it big and he is always troubling the Australians.”
“On the other hand, very similarly Steven Smith has got plenty of runs against India and is arguably Australia’s best batter against spin. If Australia want to create a dent in the series it has to be from Steven Smith’s plate” he added.
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Kohli has scored 1682 runs at an average of 48.06 in 20 Test matches against Australia and has seven centuries against them. On the other hand, the Australian vice-captain Smith has scored 1742 runs at an average of 72.58 with eight centuries against the hosts.
Talking about the spinners, Karthik said, “For me, this series is all about spinners with two best spinners on both sides. R Ashwin for India has a massive mental edge over Australia and Nathan Lyon for Australia, if he gets going he is definitely gonna be a thorn in India’s flesh.”
The Indian off-spinner has picked up 89 wickets against Australia at an average of 31.48 from 18 matches while the Aussie picked up 94 wickets from 22 games at an average of 34.76.
Speaking about Shreyas Iyer, Karthik said “The last for me is a very critical player. According to me I feel India will definitely play on tracks that aid spin and Shreyas Iyer is someone who plays spin beautifully. If he gets going, especially against spin, he can hit a ball a long way and cause a lot of trouble”
Iyer is yet to play a test match against Australia and won’t be part of the first Test as he is out with an injury.
“So for India to do well in the series, two key batters for me are gonna be Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer” Karthik concluded.
