Legendary Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar said that England's "final frontier" against India in a four match Test series could prove to be just a small hurdle as they bid for a first Test series win against "vulnerable" India in almost three decades, says a report in The Hindustan Times.
"Amazingly the situation is eerily similar to the tours of England and Australia last year," Gavaskar wrote in his column in the Mumbai-based Mid-day newspaper.
"Both England and Australia were vulnerable and there for the taking, but India messed it up and after the first Test of both the series just did not look as if they would win a day leave alone five days of a Test match. India today are in the same vulnerable position that England and particularly Australia were in 2011,” he wrote in his column.
Some of the senior players have retired from the Indian batting line-up.
“With the openers too not quite in form, the batting is looking wobbly. The settled air that was there at the beginning of 2011 is not there and that is why this is a great chance for England,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, the Mid Day reports Gavaskar saying that Zaheer Khan lacks the support and that puts immense pressure on R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha.
"Ashwin is a quick learner and Ojha is very consistent. On pitches where there is some turn they could prove tricky customers," he wrote.
On England’s new captain Alastair Cook, he said, “Cook will be the steadying factor. He has a good record in India and if he can bat like he did in his debut series in 2006, the final frontier could just be a small hurdle for England.”