The former captain of India, Sunil Gavaskar, isn’t much confident about them getting the better of Australia away from home for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, which is scheduled to begin on November 22 at the Optus Stadium in Perth. His statement came on the back of their 0-3 clean sweep by New Zealand at home for the first time.
The series defeat at home has dealt India a huge blow in qualifying for the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25. The Rohit Sharma-led side will now need to earn four victories in their last five encounters and won’t be allowed to lose another from hereon. They have also slipped to second place in the points table.
South Africa recently blew away the home Bangladesh side by a 0-2 margin to get a massive boost for the final qualification. The defending champions, Australia, will need to get a 3-2 win over the visiting side in their home summer to remain ahead of the two-time runners-up, even if they falter in Sri Lanka early in the upcoming year.
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Sunil Gavaskar reckoned that India should look to focus on winning the series in the BGT 2024-25 rather than their run to the WTC 2023-25 final, as the Indian fans will be more delighted for the series win down under.
Sunil Gavaskar breaks India’s confidence with this huge verdict
India has been unbeaten against the Pat Cummins-led side in the Test series since 2014, home or away, and will aim to extend the same record this year. Their very first series win in the red-ball format came in the 2018/19 tour under the leadership of Virat Kohli for a 2-1 margin, while the Ajinkya Rahane-led repeated the same success in the following trip of the 2020/21 season.
No, I don’t. I think that India cannot beat Australia 4-0 in the Test series. I’d be over the moon if they did that. But 4-0? India can win 3-1, 4-0 is (tough). I don’t want to talk about the World Test Championship Final. Now, just focus on trying to win the series in Australia.” Sunil Gavaskar claimed in the discussion.
“Never mind whether you win 1-0,2-0,3-0, 3-1,2-1. But go and win. Because that is how all of us Indian cricket fans are going to be back to feeling good again.” The former Indian opening batter expressed.
One of the reasons for the Blue Brigade to do well in the last two tours of Australia was their incredible bowling performance, led by their premier pacer, Jasprit Bumrah, in 2018/19. The likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli also did a great job with the bat in hand.
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On the following trip, it was the contribution of the young players who made their debut and earned success in the trip. When these veteran players couldn’t turn up for the series decider in 2020/21 during the fourth Test at the Gabba in Brisbane due to various injuries, it was the young players who displayed their skills and patience to gain the series victory.
The opening Test of the upcoming BGT 2024-25 will be played at the Optus Stadium in Perth from November 22 before they move to Adelaide Oval for the day-night fixture from December 06. The third stage will be staged at the Gabba, Brisbane, from December 14. The fourth game, the Boxing Day Test, of the series will take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) from December 26, while the fifth and final New Year’s game will end the series at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 03, 2025.