Former England cricketer Nick Knight analysed and opined on India’s triumph over Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under very closely. After the historic series victory, as India shifts focus to the 4-match home Test series against England, a lot of focus is on returning India captain Virat Kohli.
“Virat Kohli coming back into the side, and a change of captaincy. I think what he’s done for the side has been immense… the fighting spirit, the character that’s been brought into the team unit. But he’ll come back and he’ll be desperate to make his own point with the bat and the captaincy as well,” Knight said on YouTube channel ‘Cricket Fables’.
Entire India celebrated the cricket team’s success in Australia as players received heroes’ welcome upon their return home. The team, however, has a new task upon them for which they need to prepare with as much enthusiasm and determination as they did back in Australia.
As for England, the memories of the stupendous 2012 tour of India would still be fresh. Joe Root & Co., who are coming into the series after an impressive 2-0 win in Sri Lanka, have all the reasons to believe that they can beat India in India.
“After such an amazing high… and I saw all that reaction, I turned on the TV and saw the reception, homecoming, open-top buses, fans and crowds out there and rightly so. Rewarding and clapping for all the players as they came back. But a week later, you get your head down, you’re in quarantine at the moment, you’ve got 2-3 days of practice,” Knight explained.
“That day in Chennai, if you’re not quite on it and your mind isn’t quite there and if you’re still thinking about the open-top bus, and that brilliant last day at the Gabba, England are a good side and they are going to get ahead of the game. So i think that’s the challenge for India. If they’re even slightly reliving what happened a week or two ago, on that first day in Chennai, [it’s] England’s best chance.”
