Cricket News: India will come out on top on day 5 of WTC: De Villiers

Former South African captain AB de Villiers believes India has a better chance of beating Australia in the 2023 ICC World Test Championship (WTC), which begins on June 7 at The Oval in London.

The Pat Cummins-led side will be playing in their first final, while India finished second in the inaugural tournament after losing to New Zealand.

De Villiers believes it is difficult to pick a favourite for the WTC final, noting that both India and Australia have not played many matches in the longest format of the game, but India has the advantage because they defeated the powerful England team at The Oval in their last match.

"Very difficult to say who are the favorites. Both teams have not been playing a lot of Test cricket of late but what I can say is that India in their last Test match at the Oval have got a win against this very strong England team. They will be taking a bit of confidence from that,"

de Villiers said while previewing the match on JioCinema.

The renowned wicketkeeper-batter believes India will win the one-off Test on day five. The 39-year-old added that the Indian spinners will be vital in the final stages of the summit fight.

"I think India will come out on top on day five of the Test match. I think it might go all the way. It's a good wicket to bat on but I think the Indian spinners will come into play in the latter stages of the Test match,"

the former cricketer added.

When asked to pick an Indian batsman to do the heavy lifting, he chose Virat Kohli. He stated that the former India batsman has something to prove no matter where he plays.

He also expressed his desire to see his close friend and former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) teammate perform well in England once more.

"I am just going to mention one and someone who has always been fired up with all these kind of series, especially in the UK and Australia. Everywhere he has traveled, he wants to prove a point - it's Virat Kohli. It's great to see him enjoy the game of cricket and I can't wait to see him do well in the UK again,"

the South African said.

He also remarked that the absence of speedster Jasprit Bumrah is a significant setback for the Rohit Sharma-led squad. He does believe Mohammed Siraj will contribute to India's bowling assault in the one-off Test.

"Bumrah is a big loss for the Indian bowling attack, but I do think that Mohammed Siraj is in the form of his life. He has done well there before. He has got that extra pace. He nips it around off-stump, and I think he is the biggest asset in India's bowling attack,"

he concluded.

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