BORDER-GAVASKAR TROPHY 2024-25 – The Australian Summer Begins

-Anirudha R Nijagal

It was not long time ago when a bunch of Indian youngsters lead by a sweet but shrewd operator Ajinkya Rahane had decided to breach the Gabba fortress. Some lines from the Hindi commentary remain legendary and always keep ringing in the ears of Indians. “Toota hain Gabba ka ghamand” from BGT 2021 also turns out to be one of those lines. That series win was a message to the World Cricket to not underestimate any Indian team as they went on to announce themselves as the team with the strongest bench strength. Only few teams in World Cricket can manage beating the Australian side in Australia in Test Cricket after being hit by a series Injury woes.

This time around there has been a question mark around the team’s reputation being dented a bit following a whitewash in a home test series against New Zealand. Fair to say India were outplayed on the turning wickets in the subcontinent. We could definitely see a couple of youngsters stepping in tricky situations, but the seniors of the side were off colour.

One of the seniors in the Indian side, the captain will not be taking part in the first test citing personal reasons and the other senior pro who has some unbelievable reputation down under, has again made the Australian media dance to his tunes even during the practice sessions. Virat Kohli has looked sharp in the nets in Perth. Indians hope the drop-in wicket in the Optus Stadium will have all the privilege in the world to experience a Kohli classic which can just make the Indian team look superior to the opposition in any conditions. With the reputation of having played the 2018 Perth classic which had gone down to the history books as one of the greatest knocks to have played down under, Virat prepares for another test series in Australia which potentially could turn out to be his last in Australia. Australians will be vary of not awakening the sleeping egoistic giant who can dominate their best bowlers with his weapon made of wood and a touch of magic hidden inside it especially when it unveils in Australia.

Jasprit Bumrah leads India in the First test at perth who can breathe fire, but will miss his partner who used to get into the heads of opposition batters with his incredible seam position and the ability to pick wickets even with the older ball. But there is Akash Deep who turns out to be like-for-like replacement to Mohammed Shami. But there isn’t an assurance that he might get the nod ahead of Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj.

Team India lock horns against their arch rivals in their fortress. They will start the series with a wicket keeper batsman from Delhi who had made the Australian bowlers pay for their mistakes the last time around when he was in Australia. The banter with Australia’s ex Test captain Tim Paine had made Rishabh Pant stronger to tackle the tough aussie attack. The batsman who believes in going big and being aggressive instead of getting out playing a defensive shot will be all ready to start again in his happy hunting country following a comeback from a tragic incident of his life.

25 days of High Quality cricket is what we look forward to as the Australian Summer begins.

Australia v India 2024-25 (India probable Xl)

KL Rahul, Yashavi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah (c)

It looks like the 21 year old Nitish Reddy is all set to make his debut. Devdutt Padikkal might be asked to take up the number 3 position in the absence of Shubman Gill. KL Rahul will be replacing the teams’s captain Rohit Sharma. Harshit rana might also get the nod ahead of Prasidh Kriishna but Prasidh’s nature of hitting short length will be a good option to look for Team India.

India will take it match by match but beating Australia 4-0 will be the aim which can help them make a heroic entry for the third consecutive time into the Finals of the World Test Championship.