Glenn McGrath praises Indian pacers, Cheteshwar Pujara

Australian legend Glenn McGrath has heaped praise on the Indian pace bowling battery and said that India has the ability to push the Aussies to the deep end this summer. However, he believes that Australia have a slight edge over the Indians going into the Border-Gavaskar series. 

Speaking of the Indian fast bowlers, McGrath said, ”Umesh Yadav's got raw pace, Mohammed Shami has great control and swings the ball both ways and Bumrah is just class. He has great mental strength. His second and third spells are just as quick as his first,” during a media interaction organized by Sony. 

However, he added that Australia have an equally impressive lineup when it comes to tearing apart a batting lineup. ”You have guys who, if on fire, are tough to beat. But on par you have Josh Hazlewood, he bowls in good areas and is tall, strong. Then Pat Cummins is the No.1 bowler in the world. He runs in all day, always gives 100 percent. He gets slightly different angles because of the way he runs in. Then you have left-arm Mitchell Starc. When he gets it right, he can pick four-five wickets at a go. He has got that X-factor. If both teams are bowling at the top of their game, I would probably put Australia slightly ahead only because of the left-hander, which makes a big impact,” he added.

McGrath also reserved words of admiration for India’s Number 3, Cheteshwar Pujara, and singled out the Saurashtra batsman as being one of the key reasons behind Team India’s success in their last outing down under. "The thing he did so well last time was that he occupied the crease. He spent time in the middle just batting," McGrath said. "He is a kind of batsman who doesn't feel pressure when not scoring runs. That's unique in the modern era where there are batsmen who would want to score runs after one maiden over. Pujara doesn't have that mindset. That helped him last time, allowed him to get a lot of time and just compile runs,” he said.

However, McGrath now believes that the forced break due to COVID-19 will make it tougher for Pujara to replicate the form of 2018/19. "The fact that he hasn't spent time in the middle hasn't had a lot of long batting time, is going to have a big impact. He will probably have to work harder this series than the last one as he hasn't played any cricket,” McGrath opined.