NEW DELHI, Sept 30: Former England opener Geoffrey Boycott on Tuesday rubbished India’s chances of defeating Australia later this year, saying they did not have the firepower to beat the world champions.
Boycott, one of the most accomplished openers in the history of Test cricket, said India will struggle outside the sub-continent due to a lack of quality opening batsmen.
“From what I have seen, I don’t think any of the Indian batsmen have a good technique to counter the ball when it is new and seams and swings a lot,” the 62-year-old told reporters here.
“Remember, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly — all come down the order.
“In my opinion, only Virender Sehwag can make some runs by flashing his bat but he would be able to do it in one odd innings, not in all four Tests.”
Ganguly’s men are due to play four Test matches in Australia in December-January before taking part in a limited-overs triangular also featuring Zimbabwe.
Boycott, whose aggregate of 8,114 runs from 108 Tests was an England record until David Gower and Graham Gooch surpassed him, said India urgently needed to discover youngsters who can open.
“You have to work at the academy. You have to pick youngsters and work on them before bad habits get ingrained in them,” he said.
“Outside India and Sri Lanka, you lose early wickets. If you cannot win in England, I can’t see you doing it against Australia.”
India have struggled to find a top-class opening batsman since Sunil Gavaskar, the first man to compile 10,000 Test runs, retired in 1988.
Sehwag and all-rounder Sanjay Bangar are the current Test openers, while Tendulkar takes over from Bangar in the shorter version of the game.
Sehwag, who bats down the order in domestic cricket, said recently he was uncomfortable opening the innings but would continue at the top till India found a replacement.
India will need two specialist openers in Australia to face the dreaded pace quartet of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie and Andy Bichel.
Ganguly’s men are currently preparing for a two-Test series against touring New Zealand starting next week.—AFP