Former Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene has backed Australia to win the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which is a four-Test series against India starting in Nagpur on Thursday, February 9. The visitors have not won on India's home turf since 2004, but Jayawardene believes that the upcoming series is going to be an interesting one given the prowess of both teams.
However, because of his allegiance to Sri Lanka, and the rivalry that the two countries share, the prolific former batter has chosen Australia as his favourite to win the coveted trophy.
"I think it's always going to be a great series. I think Indian conditions and how the Australian batsmen tackle that, they do have a really good bowling unit and how the Indian batsmen tackle that depends on how each team starts the series and who's got that momentum. But it will be fascinating," Jayawardene said in the latest edition of The ICC Review.
"It's difficult to predict, but being a Sri Lankan, I'm hoping that Australia can go all the way. Probably a 2-1 win for Australia, but it's going to be a tough one."
Australia have not been able to beat India in this bilateral competition since 2015. Australia's last visit to India was in 2017 when they won the first match by a massive 333 runs but lost two more as India sealed the series 2-1.
He also backed Shubman Gill to do a great job for India, with the in-form opener tearing their opponents apart with four centuries in January. Jayawardene is of the opinion that his form will transfer to red-ball cricket as well. "He's been very good, he's technically very sound and he's a good player of pace," Jayawardene said of Gill. "That'll keep him in good stead against that Australian attack, but it's always going to be tough and it will be a very good series.
"He is in great form at the moment and if he converts that into red-ball cricket and have that tempo, maturity, and understanding of the situations and conditions, he'd be a great asset at the top of the line-up for India. He does give them those good starts at a good tempo to put opposition bowling attacks under pressure," the legendary opener said.
