Legendary Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh has hinted at team India's possible opening pair for the World Test Championship final. The 39-year-old feels that Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma could be the ideal opening pair for the national team in the WTC against NZ, starting June 18 at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. For the opening position, India has also tried Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw as well in the last couple of years. However, they couldn't perform well and somehow lost their place.
Yuvraj Singh further stated that Rohit Sharma needs to know the conditions and play his natural game. Rohit Sharma has so far played only one Test in England, which was back in 2014. On the other hand, Shubman Gill is yet to play on English soil. Rohit Sharma has been India's best Test batsman ever since he started opening the innings. The batsman has amassed 1030 runs in just 11 innings as a Test opener. Rohit Sharma is so far the fastest among all Indian opening batsmen to achieve the feat.
The challenge for the opening pair will be in negotiating the Dukes' ball when it's hard and new: Yuvraj Singh
Rohit Sharma is also the fastest Asian cricketer to score 1000 runs in the maiden edition of the World Test Championship. Ajinkya Rahane, who has scored 1095 runs, is the other Indian batsman to score more than 1000 runs in the World Test Championship. With 1030* runs, Rohit Sharma is now in the sixth position of most run-scorers. The list is topped by Australia's star batsman Marnus Labuschagne, who has scored 1675 runs.
According to Yuvraj Singh, the challenge for the opening pair will be in negotiating the Dukes' ball when it's hard and new. A few days back, Ravi Shastri, the head coach of Team India, pointed out that a best of three matches should have been there to decide the winner of the WTC. Yuvraj Singh also stated the same thing and said that New Zealand would have the edge in the final as they are currently playing against Joe Root and Co.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli and Co. were in a three-day hard quarantine. All the players were allowed to use the training facilities but only in staggered batches. They were also not even allowed to meet each other. But on June 6, the Indian cricket team commenced their training sessions at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.