The Australian team on paper holds slight advantage on a bouncy Oval track but both Ravi Shastri and Ricky Ponting feel that the Indians are better prepared for the World Test Championship final beginning Wednesday with IPL game-time under their belt.
Shastri, Ponting and Pakistan legend Wasim Akram all feel that the Oval track will remain fresher than it usually is as it has never hosted a Test match in June in the venue's 140-year history.
Shastri, a former India head coach who guided the team to inaugural WTC final in 2021, felt that had Jasprit Bumrah been there, India would have started on even keel if not as favourites.
