The Indian batting is pretty impressive with performers like Pujara and Rahane: Waqar Younis

Indian skipper Virat Kohli is all set to miss the last three Test matches of the four-match Test series against Australia to be with his Anushka Sharma during the birth of his first child. While many cricket analysts and pundits feel that the absence of Kohli will create a big hole in the Indian squad and will make the visitor’s batting line-up vulnerable, former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis doesn’t hold the same views.

India will fight against Australia in Three One Day Internationals and as many T20I matches from November 27 in Sydney. This will be followed by the highly-anticipated Border Gavaskar Trophy which will begin on December 17 in Adelaide. Kohli will return back to India after the Adelaide Test and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane is most likely to don the captain hat in the last three fixtures.

Detailing his opinion on India’s batting line-up in the absence of Indian skipper, Waqar Younis reckoned that India has a strong batting line-up and will put up a good contest in the Test series. Younis backed Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane to score runs for the visitors.

“The Indian batting is also pretty impressive with some notable test performers like Pujara and Rahane so I expect good contests.” Waqar said as quoted by Cricket Addictor.

Notably, India registered a historic Test series against Australia in 2018 on the Australian soil and the major credit for that went to Pujara. The opening batsman had scored 521 runs in four matches and won the Player of the Series award. Meanwhile, Rahane was equally impressive as he had averaged 71 last year with two hundreds and 5 fifties.

Rohit is a top act while Ishant has a lot of experience: Waqar Younis

Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma were expected to join the Indian contingent for the Test series in Australia after recovering from their injuries at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. However, there are minimal chances of the two players making it for the Test matches on time owing to the hard quarantine rules in Australia.

“Rohit is a top act while Ishant has a lot of experience and wickets behind him and they can’t make it for the Test matches, India will feel their absence.” The Pakistan veteran opined on the absence of Ishant and Rohit from the Test squad.

The last time India had toured Australia, Steve Smith and David Warner were not included in the Australian team as they were completing their one-year ban. Thus, Waqar Younis believes that it won’t be easy for India this time as both Smith and Warner are back and appears to be in great form.