England bowler Stuart Broad hopes India stars Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli can make Australia toil ahead of the Ashes during this week’s World Test Championship final.
India’s clash with Australia at The Oval gets underway on Wednesday, just days before the five-match series between England and Australia starts at Edgbaston on June 16.
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Veteran paceman Broad, 36, has become a player Australia fans love to hate during a lengthy career that has yielded 582 wickets in 162 Tests.
And he caused more ire in April when he said Australia’s 4-0 series win over England in 2021/22 did not count as “a real Ashes” win, because Covid-19 restrictions made it void.
Australia now face a packed schedule of six Tests in under eight weeks that promises to test the stamina of their fast bowlers in particular.
Broad, asked Tuesday what he would like to see in the final, replied: “I don’t want to upset any more Aussies!
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“I would like it to be an old school, hard-fought Test match where India do really well, get Pujara booked in nicely, and then Kohli comes in and scores a great hundred.”
Despite the hectic schedule, Australia captain Pat Cummins, a 30-year-old fast bowler plagued by injuries earlier in his career, believes he can lead the tourists in all six of their Tests.
“It’s a balance. I’ve been exhausted and depleted before but still got up and felt like I did a really good job, said Cummins, who has taken 217 wickets in 49 Tests.
“I’ll be aiming to play all six. There’s some good breaks in between every batch of two Test matches here, so I think it’s manageable.”
Likely Aussie XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
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