Ian Chappell fires ominous warning to India for Australia series: 'No one can replace him'

Former Australian cricketer Ian Chappell, on saturday opened up on Rishabh Pant's abscence from team india's squad for the upcoming test series against Australia. Australia are scheduled to play 4-test matches in India under Border-Gavaskar trophy and the 1st match is scheduled to take place from February 9th.

Australia have already qualified for the finals of World Test Championship whereas if India also goes on to win the series then they will also qualify for the final of WTC. Team India received a major setback when one of their most consistent performers in the format as Indian wicket-keeepr Rishabh Pant faced severe injuries in a car crash later last month.

Pant is unlikely to return to competitive action for at least the next few months after undergoing surgery to treat multiple injuries, including ligament tears. India have roped in Ishan Kishan as a back-up wicketkeeper in the 17-man squad along with KS Bharat, who is likely to be the first-choice gloveman for the 4-Test series.  Australia legend Ian Chappell believes the side will regardless be missing the 24-year-old wicketkeeper.

'It will be diffucult to replace him'

Ian Chappel, in his column for ESPNCricinfo, said it will be interesting to see if India can score at a fluent rate and put the pressure on the opposition bowlers in the absence of Pant.

"India also have some points to prove, not the least to do with how Pant's replacement performs. The main thing India will lose from Pant's unavailability is an excellent run rate, which came from his belligerent aggression. No one can replace Pant's desire to dominate bowlers, so India have to rely on their top batters not only performing but also maintaining a good strike rate," Chappell said.

Chappell added that it will be important that India's top-order batters, including captain Rohit Sharma and former captain Virat Kohli, establish dominance over Nathan Lyon to diffuse the threat from Australia.

India vs Australia squad

India - Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, C Pujara, V Kohli, S Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav

Australia - Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.