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The Indian playing XI for the World Test Championship (WTC) final is not out yet. Captain Rohit Sharma has decided to keep the suspense till the coin is flipped on June 7. While many former cricketers have weighed in on India’s possible team combination, legendary Sachin Tendulkar has said that the Kennington Oval pitch will assist the spinners as the game progresses and the Rohit Sharma-led side will be happy that they are playing at this venue.
"The Indian team will be happy that they are playing at the Oval. The nature of the Oval pitch is such that it assists the spinners as the match goes on. So, spinners will come into play a little bit.
"It need not be always a turning track as sometimes the spinners rely a lot on the bounce, sometimes that little bit of zip that they get off the pitch, also on the overhead conditions and it depends a lot on the shiny side of the ball.
"If they are able to get that drift, they can make the ball talk in the air without the pitch coming into play. So, Oval is going to be good venue for India," said Tendulkar in his website 100mbsports.
Last outing matters
The last time India played at Kennington Oval, they beat Joe Root-led England side by a big margin of 157 runs. Tendulkar believes that it will give them confidence for the high-voltage clash.
"100 per cent. Whenever you have such memories, they will stay with you. The Indian team would not have forgotten that the last time they played there (the Oval), they had a superb outing. They won the game and as I said good memories stay long with you," said the highest run-scorer in Test cricket’s history.
On the other hand, Australia don't have good memories of playing at the venue. In their last outing, they suffered a 135-run defeat in the iconic 2019 Ashes series. But Tendulkar feels that Australians have always been competitive.
"Bruises take some time to heal. But Australia is a beautiful team as they have a balanced squad. There are guys who have been around for a long time now and some young faces as well.
"It is a nice blend of youth and experience. Australia have always been competitive and whether they have a full squad or not, once they cross that rope they are going to be very competitive," said the 50-year-old.
County experience helpful
Tendulkar also believes the recent County stint will help India and Australia's no.3 batters Cheteshwar Pujara and Marnus Labuschagne.
"Of course, playing in County cricket can be of great value. Both Pujara and Labuschagne had considerable outing in the County cricket recently. Smith not as much as the other two, but whatever match practice one can get is very handy because the conditions are different.
"Our guys have played T20 and now they have gone to England, so are some players from Australia as they were playing T20 here but I believe playing practice matches... no better practice than that," he said.
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