The Indian cricket team has been facing a lot of criticism following the humiliating 0-3 series loss against New Zealand that severely hampered their dreams of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final. India were more or less outplayed in all sectors by New Zealand but their struggle against spin bowling became a major point of discussion. Legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram believes that Pakistan can exploit that weakness and if the two teams face each other in Test cricket, Pakistan can emerge victorious. While doing commentary during the first ODI between Pakistan and Australia, Akram said that the two teams playing each other in a Test series will be "good for the game".
“It will be massive. It will be good for the game, for two cricket-crazy nations,” Akram said.
“Pakistan have a chance to beat India in Tests now on a spinning track. They have been hammered by New Zealand 3-0 at home,” he added.
Meanwhile, former Australia wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist has said the way in which India will bounce back from 3-0 Test series defeat to New Zealand will be fascinating to watch when they face Australia in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
India will be heading Australia for the all-important marquee series after suffering an unprecedented 3-0 defeat to New Zealand at home, marking it their first Test series loss at home in 12 years. "It does (have an impact), more for the Indian players and the Indian team internally. They have to be asking themselves pretty hard questions.
"I'm not expecting them to come out and be easy beats, but I do think on the back of that loss and the fact that it was a clean sweep — I cannot remember when that's happened to them, just losing a series, let alone a clean sweep.
"I think that will raise some questions internally and the pressure, the expectation and the desire from a passionate cricketing nation to see that change around, that'll ride heavily on those shoulders of all those players.
"There are a few ageing players there who may start to even second guess themselves a little bit. There's some high class cricketers in that Indian squad. It's going to be fascinating to see how they rebound from that challenge," said Gilchrist to Fox Sports.
(With IANS inputs)