English legend and popular commentator Sir Geoffrey Boycott today said India will have to work on youngsters at the National Cricket Academy to find a specialist opening pair.
"You have to work at the academy," Boycott told a press conference in New Delhi. "You have to pick youngsters and work on them before bad habits get ingrained in them."
Boycott, whose aggregate of 8,114 runs from 108 Tests was an England record until David Gower, Graham Gooch and Alec Stewart surpassed him, said India would struggle in Australia because it does not have an opening batsman with good technique.
"From what I have seen, I don't think any of the Indian batsmen have a good technique to counter the ball when it is new and seams and swings a lot. Remember, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly -- all come down the order.
"In my opinion, only [Virender] Sehwag can make some runs by flashing his bat, but he would be able to do it in one odd innings, not in all four Tests," the former England opener said.
India are to play a four-Test series in Australia later this year. They also play a triangular limited overs series Down Under with Zimbabwe as the third team.
| |||||||||||
"Outside India and Sri Lanka, you lose early wickets. If you cannot win against England, I can't see you doing it against Australia," Boycott, who is on the commentators panel for ESPN-STAR Sports, said.
Boycott said he does not know if the new Twenty-20 shortened version of cricket launched by the England and Wales Cricket Board early this year would be a success in other cricket-playing countries.
"Twenty-20 was launched in England because day-night cricket was not successful there. The sunlight in England during summer lasts till 9 o'clock in the evening, which makes floodlights unnecessary.
"Secondly, it becomes pretty cold in the night. But that is not the case in India, Australia and South Africa."
The Yorkshire batsman, known for his sharp comments on the game, begged to differ from ex-England captain Nasser Hussain's observation that England needs a genuine spinner to win Test matches.
"I don't think so. I would say that England need three genuine fast-medium bowlers.
"Darren Gough has retired because of a chronic knee injury and Andrew Caddick has been injured for a long time, he is doubtful for the coming tour of the West Indies.
"Andrew Flintoff has bowled fast and taken wickets, but they cost him about 35 runs each.
"A true match-winning fast bowler takes wickets regularly at 25 runs or so. I think that's what England need."
