I believe this team is the best ever Indian Test team: Sunil Gavaskar

Legendary cricketer and former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar believes the current Indian Test team under Virat Kohli is the best ever to have represented the country. Gavaskar thinks it is the current crop of bowlers that makes the team stand out from those of the preceding eras. 

"I believe this team is the best ever Indian Test team in terms of balance, in terms of ability, in terms of skills, in terms of temperament. Can't think of a better Indian Test team," Gavaskar remarked speaking at the 'India Today's' e-Conclave Inspiration series.

Gavaskar singled out the bowling of the current Indian Test team as the key factor which elevates the standards of the team. "This team has the attack to win on any surface. It doesn't need any help in conditions...they can win on any surface. Batting-wise there were teams in 1980s that were pretty similar. But they didn't have the bowlers that Virat has," the former captain said.

As opposed to the previous generations, the current bowling unit has been extremely potent in picking up 20 wickets in a Test which Gavaskar believes is the key to winning Test matches. "Definitely without a question, India has got such a varied bowling attack today and that is so essential. There is a saying that 'if you don't take 20 wickets you won't win a match’. We have got the bowling to take 20 Australian wickets on 1 run less than what India has scored,” Gavaskar said. 

While the current crop of fast bowlers in Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and RCB’s own Umesh Yadav have formed a fearful pace quintet, the batting has come under some criticism for not being able to capitalize on the bowlers’ dominance. "You need to score runs also. We saw that in England in 2018. We saw that in South Africa in 2017 when we went there. We got 20 wickets every time but we didn't score enough runs,” Gavaskar noted. "But now I think we have also got the batting to be able to score more runs than Australians,” he added.

Under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, the current Indian Test team has reached the top of the ICC Test rankings, is currently sitting pretty atop the ICC World Test championship table, and has achieved the unprecedented feat of being the first-ever Indian team to win a Test series in Australia.

[PTI inputs]