India Can Beat Australia In Brisbane: Shoaib Akhtar

Former Pakistan fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar opines that the Indian team has got the ability to beat Australia in Brisbane, where the fourth and the last Test of the series will be played. After the epic drawn third Test match in Sydney, the series stands at 1-1.

Australia will have to win the last Test to claim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy; any other result would mean India retains the trophy having already beaten them in their last two series – in Australia in 2018-19 and in India before that in 2017.

India need to give one last effort: Shoaib Akhtar

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Shoaib Akhtar points out that India has to deal with injuries before the last Test at the Gabba. However, the Pakistani speedster feels that the team has depth in their bench strength.

The likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Hanuma Vihari have already been ruled out of the Brisbane Test; Jasprit Bumrah is unlikely to feature so as to not risk aggravating his injury; there is no certainty on the fitness of Ravichandran Ashwin as well. To make matters worse, Mayank Agarwal also sustained an injury during a net session.

Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Shardul Thakur, and Wriddhiman Saha; all are in contention for a place in the eleven for the last Test.

“Now at the final stages (of the series), I think India has got it in them to win this series. Again, a last little push, where they will face issues, they have several injury concerns, but the Indian bench strength has to believe that they can do it, they need to give one last effort and they can win the series,” Shoaib Akhtar said in a video on his YouTube channel.

According to the 45-year-old if the Ajinkya Rahane led team can somehow win the match, it would be the greatest Test series win in India’s history. However, it would be nowhere near easy to beat Australia at the Gabba, where the hosts haven’t lost a Test since 1988.

“If from this point onwards, India goes on to win this series, then that will be a big big victory. According to me, it will be the biggest series win in Test history,” Shoaib Akhtar added.

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