With a clean sweep by a 3-0 margin at home in the three-match Test series for the first time in India, the Blue Brigade has come under some real pressure going into the five-match red-ball series for the trip to Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Most of their experienced players haven’t performed well in these three encounters.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to move forward and phase out some of the senior members of the red-ball team for a huge condition. The future of the veterans is now in the hands of the board members, who could now look to get rid of the current squad and focus on building a new-looking side for the fourth cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27.
The Rohit Sharma-led side had an excellent beginning in their home Test season with a 2-0 series victory over Bangladesh in Chennai and Kanpur. Three more victories in the rest of the eight clashes from thereon could have confirmed their qualification in the WTC 2023-25 final for the third successive time.
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India, however, had one of the most horrible times at home against the red-ball. In the opening Test of the three-match series against New Zealand at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, they opted to bat first on the wet surface and were destroyed for just 46 runs in their first innings, which is their third-lowest innings total in the format.
India to get rid of senior players if fail to qualify for WTC 2023-25 final
Even though they displayed strong character with the bat in the second innings as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma celebrated their respective half-centuries. On the other hand, Sarfaraz Khan notched up a 150-run knock while Rishabh Pant missed out on a well-deserved century by just one run.
India’s team management decided to produce slow and low turners for the second encounter in Pune and batting second, but it didn’t work out in their favor. The entire batting department blew away before the left-arm spin of Mitchell Santner, who picked up 13 wickets in the encounter, to earn a series victory by any team in India for the first time since 2012/13.
Both Rohit and Virat had tough times with the blade in the six innings. The former cracked only 91 runs, while the latter smashed 93 runs at a poor average of around 15, with one solitary half-century for both players. In the bowling department, Ravichandran Ashwin struggled with the ball, picking up just nine scalps in six innings at an average of 41.22.
The series defeat means India means that they will need to win the upcoming BGT 2024-25 by either a 5-0 or 4-0 margin to confirm their WTC 2023-25 final qualification. They can’t be allowed to have a defeat on that trip, which will push them to defend on the other results.
The reports have confirmed a failure to qualify in the final would see many of the senior players of India get dropped before their five-match Test series in England in June.
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“But if India doesn’t qualify for the WTC final in England, one can rest assured that all four super seniors won’t be on that flight to the UK for the ensuing five-Test series. In any case, all four have likely played their final Test at home together.” The report spills the beans.
At the end of the series, the chief selector, Ajit Agarkar, and the head coach, Gautam Gambhir, had a lengthy chat on the ground as they prepared themselves for the BGT 2024-25.