"He has returned to his best form..."- Marcus Stoinis names Australia's "biggest threat" ahead of BGT Series

 
"He has returned to his best form..."- Marcus Stoinis names Australia's "biggest threat" ahead of BGT Series
India is all set to host Australia for the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which will start on February 9. It will be the last "red-ball" assignment for India in the ongoing World Test Championship 2021-23 and also the last chance to make it to the WTC final.

Team India is currently ranked second on the WTC table, while Australia is at the top. Australia needs just one win out of their next four games against Australia to qualify, which looks pretty comfortable for them.

On the other hand, India needs to win the upcoming BGT series, too, by a 3-1 or 3-0 margin, to make their final qualification possible. If they lose or win by a smaller margin, they will have to depend on other teams for their qualification.

Meanwhile, the home conditions might favour them, but Australia has been coming off four consecutive series wins and is high on confidence, so they will surely challenge India despite whatever the conditions will be. On the other hand, India will be without Rishabh Pant, which could be the difference between the two sides.

Notably, Pant was one of the reasons that India beat Australia in the last BGT series in Australia. Jasprit Bumrah is also not available for selection for the first two tests. Thus, it will not be easy for the hosts.

However, Australian star all-rounder Marcus Stoinis reckons that the biggest challenge for Australia will be former Indian skipper Virat Kohli. In an interview with ANI, Stoinis said that Australia has already lost the BGT series twice, but this time they are not going to give up on it.

Stoinis said, "Kohli is a world-class batsman and has returned to form and he is one of the best Test batters, so he could be the biggest threat once again for us. But one player who will be missed this season badly is Rishabh Pant. He is unfortunately not with the team."

The Australian all-rounder said that India is very strong on their home soil, and Australia will have to play on those spin tracks. He also stated that both Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will give Australia a tough time, but Australia is also coming with specialist spinners.

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