Australia, having not secured the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) since winning it at home in 2014, is keen to show their class in the format against touring India during the five-match series at the end of this year. Under Virat Kohli, the Blue Brigade won their first red-ball series in Australia before the Ajinkya Rahane-led side repeated the same feat in 2020-21.
The rivalry, of late, has become more feisty in recent times, as the home side is ready to bring more spice in the upcoming fixtures. They took the revenge, winning the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-23 against the Rohit Sharma-led side at the Kennington Oval, but their eyes are on the BGT trophy.
They had the chance to win the series last time at home, when they won the opening game in Adelaide quite comprehensively with eight wickets in hand, bowling out the visitors for just 36 runs in their second innings. Virat Kohli returned home, but the young Blue Brigade showed a different style of their game.
“Nice wicket of Virat Kohli to get”- Australian pacer starts new rivalry
With a new bowling attack, as their premier fast bowler, Mohammad Shami, returned home with a finger injury, India went into the second game of the series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) handing a debut cap to Mohammad Siraj and their inspiring performance with both bat and ball helped them in winning the game with eight wickets in hand.
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The third Test in Sydney found them fighting hard in the middle till the end of the fifth day of the game, as both Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari displayed their resilience and stability in the middle with a huge amount of concentration.
The fourth Test at the Gabba was different, as almost half of the Indian squad was injured, with many players involved in the game having hardly any sort of experience in the longest format. Still, they chased down a huge score to break an unbelievable record of the home side at the Gabba.
Virat Kohli didn’t have a huge role to play in the series victory, as his previous meeting with Australia was during the WTC final, where he managed 14 runs in the first innings and fell one short of a half-century in the second innings. It was the new sensational pacer, Scott Boland, who dismissed him during the chase.
The pacer felt that they could jump over the Indian batters in their home conditions during the upcoming summer.
“I think we’ve got real class bowling attack, some of the best players in the world as they do but I think home conditions we can get a jump in.” The fast-bowler expressed in a video shared on X (formerly known as Twitter) by journalist Daniel Cherny.
The Victorian pacer was asked about the cheeky question of having Virat Kohli as his ‘bunny’, which brought a bright smile to the bowler’s face, as he gave a wry reply.
“I wouldn’t say that. Nice wicket to get, hopefully, I have a chance to have a crack at him again.” The Melbourne-born noted.
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A few days ago, the captain of the red-ball format, Pat Cummins, and their premier fast bowler, Josh Hazlewood, also touched on how they would be fired up to win a Test series at home against India after such a long time.
“There are quite a few players who have never beaten India in a Test series. It’s quite astounding to say that. That’s one we need to tick off, definitely, in particular at home – we should pretty much win every series here at home.” Hazlewood remarked,