It’s a question worth pondering over and definitely something I have wondered myself. I know current team gets a rep of how they can’t play spin. While they definitely aren’t on the level of previous teams, you also have to realize players back then didn’t really play on rank-turners like they do theses days. I remember back then, scores of 400-500 were quite common and wickets usually used to hold up till first three days; then it would gradually deteriorate. Compare that to wickets now that India have dished out; some of it starts turning square from day 2. My point is, we don’t really know how well past players would have done on these kind of wickets.
And that Indian team were vulnerable to quality pace bowling (Donald/ steyn/ McGrath etc.). So, I don’t have a reason to doubt Bumrah/ Shami would do well against them. Zaheer was good, but Bumrah-Shami-Yadav/ Siraj is a rung above (I woundnt play Axar here). So, even if we consider Kumble/ Bhajji = Ashwin/ Jadeja, current attack is fair bit better. Imo bowling strength coupled with Pant and Jadeja in lower order negates the batting strength of other side. I would also expect one or two players from first 5 to turn up (Rohit, Rahul or Pujara).
Which team would win will largely depend on how long Sehwag stays. If he is on the crease after first 20 overs, then they would win. He would dominate Ash/ Jadeja like he dominated every other spinner. But, I personally think he would be cleaned up by current paceman in first 15 overs.
I vote for current side but it’s definitely close.. If Kohli was as prolific as three years ago, then it would be a clear nod in favor of current team.
