Monty Panesar predicts the winner of the inaugural ICC Test Championship

The inaugural season of ICC Test Championship is underway and all the teams are lining up to get into the top 2 so that they can grab the opportunity to be in the final to be played on June 10 2021. While the teams are battling their ways out the former England cricketer Monty Panesar has already come out with a prediction of Australia being the favourites to win the league.

Currently, India is leading the charts with 120 points by winning 2 Test matches against the West Indies that they played. New Zealand and Sri Lanka are not far behind who are settled at the 2nd and 3rd spot with 60 points after winning 1 match each in the two-Test series they played. Australia is currently on the 4th position with 56 points but they would like to grab some more points by winning the last Ashes Test against England.

Considering the form that they have displayed till now in Ashes by dominating England in their den certainly makes them the favourites. In an interview with the Times of India Panesar said, “Australia looks to be the favourites. The way they are playing and dominating, I am sure they will win the championship.”

Panesar on Steve Smith

Monty Panesar also echoed the same voice as his former teammate Steve Harmison had over the Steve Smith‘s strong comeback. The former Aussie skipper is in the form of his life that has got him 671 runs in 5 innings with 82 runs being his lowest score in this series against English men. But Panesar feels that Smith will never be able to line-up with the greats due to his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal.

“Australia batsman Steve Smith should not be compared with any cricketing great after his involvement in the sandpaper gate. It doesn’t matter how many runs Smith will score, he will never be in the league of greats,” he further added.

Monty Panesar, the former English spinner has 50 Test caps to his name and has grabbed 167 wickets for the Brits. He had a great run in 2006-07 Ashes where he took 10 wickets in 3 Test matches for England although they lost the series.

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