Virat Kohli and bowlers key to India’s chances of retaining Border-Gavaskar trophy, opines Gautam Gambhir

India’s last visit Down Under resulted in a 2-1 series win for Virat Kohli and co, on the back of scintillating performances from Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored 521 runs in the series, and India’s pace-bowling pack. The trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami had accounted for 48 of Australia’s wickets in the 2018-19 series. 

However, this time around, the pace bowling might be up for a tougher test with the returning David Warner and Steve Smith. Post Smith’s scintillating comeback, where he single-handedly destroyed the English bowling attack, Australia would enter into this series as firm favourites. Rightly so, former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir believes that Virat Kohli and bowlers would be key to India retaining the prestigious trophy. 

"India has got the bowling attack to rattle the Australian batting line-up even with David Warner and Steve Smith, but yes, it's going to be a different challenge than what it was last time around," Gambhir said on Star Sports show 'Cricket Connected'.

"So you would want Virat Kohli to fire, plus the bowlers as well because it's the bowlers that will win you the Test matches," he added. 

Gambhir also added that Kohli would be pumped-up this time around, knowing that the duo of Warner and Smith would return to the Australian setup. 

"Whether it was his (Kohli's) first tour or whether it was second tour, this time around, obviously, he would be gearing up for it because it's going to be a different challenge with David Warner and Steve Smith coming back into the Australian Test line-up," he said.