1403 days since Rishabh Pant steered the ball towards the rope against a relentless Josh Hazlewood at the Gabba, the most anticipated series of the 21st century is back!
Yes, I am talking about the Border Gavaskar Trophy. This time it is bigger and better—5 Tests instead of four.
After two back-to-back wins, can India secure a hat-trick in Australia and stamp their authority? Will the BGT remain competitive? Who will qualify for the WTC finals?
Here is a short and sweet preview for BGT 2024.
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Burning Questions For Both Teams
Can Pujara-Less India Challenge Australia?
In the 2018/19 tour, Pujara scored 521 runs at an average of 74.42 with 3 hundreds and 1 fifty, helping India win their first Test series win in Australia. More importantly, he faced 1258 balls, 574 (or 95.4 overs) more than the next highest, Virat Kohli (684 balls faced). Australia’s best was Usman Khawaja at 592 balls.
In 2020/21, Pujara was not in as red hot form. He was the fourth highest run-scorer in the series with 271 runs at 33.87 average. However, yet again, he faced 928 balls, more than any batter on either side (Labuschagne faced 850 balls, best for Australia).
Gill was earmarked for this role. However, he is out with an injury in the first match. India needs to find 1-2 players to dent the new ball. For Australia, Khawaja-Labuschange both have the pedigree, but they need to stay in the game when it matters the most.
(Side Note: Forget Pujara, more importantly, will India miss the Lord, Shardul Thakur?)
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Can We Please have an Injury-Free BGT?
Let’s rewind back three years. It was one of the best Test series of all time, but it was marred by injuries.
Pucovski, Warner, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar were injured prior to the series. During the series, Kohli had to go back and Shami, Umesh, Ashwin, Vihari, Jadeja, Bumrah, Rahul, and Pucovski again were injured.
Pucovski’s career has sadly almost ended at the age of 26 due to his repeated concussion battles. For India, Mohammad Shami has been out of action for almost a year and just getting back to domestic cricket. Rohit Sharma will be starting late due to birth of a child, and Shubman Gill & KL Rahul have already had injury scares leading up to the first Test.
I hope these scares are temporary, and we have a hard fought but injury free two months from both sides.
Also Read: India Vs Australia Series Review 2020-21: The Greatest Story of Them All? Better Than Ashes 2005?
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Top Order of Both Teams A Concern
Steve Smith re-invented himself as an opener last season with middling success—12, 11*, 6, 91*, 31, 0, 11, 9 against West Indies and New Zealand. It is time he gets back to his beloved #4 spot and solidifies Australia’s middle order along with India’s arch-nemesis November specialist, Travis Head.
All eyes will also be on the highly rated 25-year old Nathan McSweeney, who is coming off a rich vein of form: 55 & 127* in the first Sheffield Shield match and 137 (131) in a List A match that followed. He ended with 39, 88*, 14, & 25 in the India A series.
For India, without Rohit and Shubman, India would have to go with an inexperienced trio of Jaiswal, Rahul/Easwaran, and Padikkal. KL Rahul averages 40.02 batting at #1 with 4 hundreds & 8 fifties (41 innings) and 28.78 batting at #2 with 3 hundreds & 4 fifties (34 innings).
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Battles to Watch Out for
Starc & Hazlewood vs Rohit
The opening session may dictate how each of the Test turns out. India somehow recovered from 36/9 to win the series 2-1 last time, but that is once in a generation kind of stuff. If Hazlewood & Starc get going in the first session of a match, they can run through India’s top order pretty quickly.
On the flip side, Rohit’s counterattacking approach could be a delight to watch and may put Starc off his lines.
Recent history shows that if India are to win, they have to take their 20 wickets. I am excited to watch Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna (if he gets a chance) on bouncy Australian pitches. And I am looking forward to at least one surprising slower yorker from the one and only, Jasprit Bumrah.
Cummins vs Kohli
Virat Kohli has been a shadow of himself in the recent past in Test cricket. However, if there is one nation where Kohli can get his aggressive in-form self back out, it is in Australia. The pitches will suit him, and the runs will hopefully follow.
🚨 Average of #4 Batters in the Last 4 Years (Minimum 20 Innings)
54.85 – Joe Root 🏴 (82 Innings)
48.19 – Steve Smith 🇦🇺 (54)
45.83 – Angelo Mathews 🇱🇰 (41)
45.45 – Babar Azam 🇵🇰 (38)
36.95 – Virat Kohli 🇮🇳 (46)
31.16 – Mominul Haque 🇧🇩 (39)Virat Kohli is not competing with… pic.twitter.com/ytItkOJxU0
— Broken Cricket Dreams Cricket Blog (@cricket_broken) October 25, 2024
Bowling throughout the day against India’s middle order batters, will be Pat Cummins.
That man can bowl and bowl and keep on bowling. He bowled an absurd 162.1 overs in 2020/21 against India. Cummins vs Kohli will be a mouth watering match or even series-deciding.
Lyon vs Ashwin, the Final Hurrah?
Nathan Lyon, 129 matches, 530 wickets, 24 5-fers.
Ravichandran Ashwin, 105 matches, 536 wickets, 37 5-fers. His batting has been a revelation in recent years as well.
Integral part of their respective sides in the last decade, we are sure to witness a final great battle between these two legends. The real question is, will Ashwin even get a look in, especially with Sundar’s show against New Zealand (and his knocks at the Gabba)? Where does Jadeja fit into the equation?
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Keep Your Eyes on Alex Carey
Three left-handers will be the X factors to watch out for. As always, the dangerous Rishabh Pant who has tilted the last two series on its head, the WTC final & World Cup final hero, Travis Head…and Alex Carey.
Did you say Alex Carey!?!
Yes, I said Alex Carey.
Yes, he had a pretty awful 2023, averaging just 24.26 after 20 innings. However, his 2024 looks a lot better, and he scored a 98* in his last Test vs New Zealand. Since September, his figures are as follows:
74, 77*, 13 (England ODIs), 90, 111, 42, 123*, 44, 42 (Sheffield Shield), 6, 36, 75 (List A). Something is brewing here…And we all know how India are against lower order batters and cleaning up the tail (Rewind your memories to Sam Curran 2018).
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A Note on Rishabh Pant
25 (38), 28 (16), 36 (50), 30 (61), 39 (76), 33 (43), 159*(189), 29 (40), 97 (118), 23 (29), 89*(138).
Pant has had meaningful contributions in every single one of his knocks in Australia. Surely, he can’t do it with this consistency yet again? Or can he?
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Expected XIs
India XI
- Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2. Rohit Sharma* (C)/KL Rahul, 3. Shubman Gill*/Devdutt Padikkal, 4. Virat Kohli, 5. Rishabh Pant (WK), 6. Dhurv Jurel, 7. Ravichandran Ashwin/Washington Sundar, 8. Nitish Kumar Reddy, 9. Akash Deep, 10. Mohammad Siraj, 11. Jasprit Bumrah (C)
*Rohit Sharma is currently out on fatherhood duties and Shubman Gill suffered an injury. For the first test, KL Rahul (looks like he has recovered from his injury scare) and Devdutt Padikkal (who performed well in the India A game in Australia) may make an appearance.
Expect to see Sarfaraz Khan and Prasidh Krishna to get a game or two throughout the series.
Others in Squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana
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Australia XI
- Nathan McSweeney, 2. Usman Khawaja, 3. Marnus Labuschagne, 4. Steven Smith, 5. Travis Head, 6. Alex Carey (WK), 7. Mitchell Marsh, 8. Pat Cummins, 9. Mitchell Starc, 10. Josh Hazlewood, 11. Nathan Lyon
Others in Squad for 1st Test: Scott Boland, Josh Inglis (WK)
Series Predictions
A jarring fact is that the senior Indian side are coming in with zero practice matches. They cancelled their official match against India A as well.
With a long drawn out 5-match series, I think the home side are favorites to begin with. No matter how it is going to end, it is going to be a cracker of a contest. Expect one Sydney 2020-like hard fought draw, 3 close contests with numerous ebbs and flows, and a completely one sided contest.
| India | Australia | |
| Scoreline | 1 | 3 |
| Most Runs | Virat Kohli | Steve Smith |
| Most Wickets | Akash Deep | Josh Hazlewood |
| X-Factor | Shubman Gill | Usman Khawaja |
| Surprise Package | Nitish Reddy | Alex Carey |
Broken Dreams?
This may be the final BGT Trophy in Australia for Nathan Lyon, Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma.
If this is the final time, I hope they all get a chance to shine and make us smile.
All the best!
***
Thanks for reading!
Before you Go, Please Buy my Book on Amazon on the Life Lessons from the Border Gavaskar Trophy!
Amazon Link: Power Play: 10 Life Lessons from the Sport of Cricket: Border Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21 Edition
If you some more free time, check out the following articles:
© Copyright @Nitesh Mathur and Broken Cricket Dreams, LLC 2023. Originally published on 11/22/2024. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Broken Cricket Dreams with appropriate and specific direction to the original content (i.e. linked to the exact post/article).
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