Current Test team under Kohli is India's best ever: Sunil Gavaskar
New Delhi: Legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar has described the current Indian Test side under Virat Kohli as the best ever, saying that the lethal bowling attack makes it more balanced than the teams of earlier eras.
Under Kohli, India reached the top of ICC Test rankings and the team is currently at number one spot in the World Test Championship standings. The highlight of the team's success is the first Test series win in Australia in 2018-19 tour.
"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 said during the 'India Today's' e-Conclave Inspiration series.
Gavaskar said what stands out in the current team is the "varied bowling attack" which can win matches on any surface, irrespective of the conditions.
"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.
Talking further about the world-class bowlers India currently has, Gavaskar said, "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," said the 71-year-old Gavaskar, who scored 10122 runs from 125 Tests between 1971 and 1987.
While India have always had skilled batsmen and great spinners, it has been the development of a clutch of world-class fast bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar that has made it the world's top team in recent years.
On the current batting line-up, Gavaskar said the current Indian Test team can score more runs than the likes of Australia, which leads the ICC Test team rankings.
"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.
"But now I think we have also got the batting to be able to score more runs than Australians."
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
