Former Australian skipper Michael Clarke said he would not mind India winning the final ODI at Sydney on Saturday. He also predicted that if India manages to win the final, they will gain confidence going into the T20I series.
“I predicted 2-1 Australia, so I don’t mind if India wins this game, one of my predictions, right? But yeah, look, I just hope it’s a really good game of one-day cricket. India won’t want to go home without a win, and like I say, you’re leading into the T20s as well, so a lot of the players will go into that format wanting to take some confidence. I’m hoping it’s a good game,” Michael Clarke said on Beyond23 Cricket Podcast.
“They’re not playing their best cricket. Conditions are very, very different, opposite to what they get in India, and they’ve had the worst of conditions. Not making excuses for him, but they’re certainly missing their two best bowlers and, in my opinion, one of their best players in Hardik Pandya. So Bumrah and Hardik Pandya have been missed, there’s no doubt about it. I think if those two are fit and healthy, they would come straight back into this Indian team and make a big difference. But still, Australia is outplaying India at the moment,” observed Clarke.
Clarke also gave his view on Shubman Gill’s captaincy, saying, “I think Shubman’s one of those captains that the more he does it, the better he’s going to get. And a lot of the time with captaining, it’s learning to back your gut feeling or go with your instinct. And he’s got senior players around, and obviously Rohit’s there and Virat’s there to go to if he needs something.”
“But I think it’s having the confidence to, if you feel something, go with it. A lot of the time, you’re going to get that wrong, but then you make a quick change. So as long as he continues to believe in himself. And again, like his batting, I think his batting continues to get better and better. He’s still so young. He’s now Test captain, One-Day captain. I think tactically, he’ll continue to get better the more he does it,” he added.
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