Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Mega series a test of character, not big names
India only need to look at their past two away-series wins Down Under to draw inspiration from
A five-Test series, more the preserve of The Ashes in modern cricket, says a lot about how much hopes all the stakeholders are pinning on the upcoming battle for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT). When the first delivery is bowled at the Optus Stadium in Perth on Friday morning, it won’t then be an exaggeration to say that the most anticipated Test series in recent times have begun.
This, despite keeping in mind that the last cycle of Ashes has been played barely a year back – while India and England had also engaged in a five-Test series earlier this year. The excitement in the Indian ranks is understandable, what with their historic back-to-back triumphs in previous tours no longer making Australia seem like an unconquered frontier – but what is remarkable is that the normally abrasive cricket community there also cannot keep calm.
The royal treatment meted out to Virat Kohli reminds one of Sachin Tendulkar’s final visit there while the ritual for Australia’s past greats of picking on the leading players in the rival camp is on – with new head coach Gautam Gambhir being added to the list this time. No prizes for guessing how important is the need to market the series well in these challenging times for the longest format of the game.
How did the India-Australia series, for long considered as a mismatched battle, acquire the status of the biggest cricket rivalry of the modern era? There had been the odd heroics on part of India, but the tide actually begun turning in the new millennium soon after the bilateral series was renamed as the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 1996-‘97. The head-to-head record under the new masthead, believe it or not, actually shows 10-5 in favour of India with one drawn series in 2003-4.
A watershed moment in their rivalry came in the 2000-01 series when Steve Waugh’s modern ‘Invincibles’ arrived in India to conquer the last frontier – but Sourav Ganguly’s men had other ideas. If the Aussies had created an aura around themselves with a combination of supreme skillsets and mindgames over the years, India shook it well enough to lay the foundation of a much more level playing field over the last few decades.
The last four editions of BGT, two each in India and Australia, have all gone India’s way since the latter won their home series 2-0 in 2014-15. The visiting Indians scored 2-1 wins in both 2018-19 and 2020-21 series, with the last one witnessing one of the most extraordinary comebacks in the history of the game after being 36 all out in the day-night affair in Adelaide. It was all the more creditable as the team had no Kohli after the first Test and produced several unlikely heroes in Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur, Hanuma Vihari, Washington Sundar, the now forgotten T. Natarajan or Ravi Ashwin with the bat.
The first Test sets up the tempo in a marathon Test series like this and stand-in leader Jasprit Bumrah’s India will do well to draw on the lessons of the previous tour. It’s true that they are coming out of a whitewash against the Kiwis at home – albeit in different conditions – while the solidity of a Cheteshwar Pujara or Ajinkya Rahane is no longer there to shore up the middle order.
Compared to the settled look of the Australian top order (with the exception of newcomer opener Nathan McSweeney), India are still pondering over the top five – now that there is a fair chance of Gill playing at Perth at No.3 position. However, it’s all about showing the character at the end of the day, something which the lesser names showed aplenty in the last series.
The biggest cliché about Test cricket is how it could be an examination of character more than anything else. If India can show that in abundance, it’s game on!
Fixtures of BGT 2024-25
First Test, Perth Stadium, Perth: November 22-26
Second Test, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide: December 6-10, 2024
Third Test, Brisbane Cricket Ground, Brisbane: December 14-18,
Fourth Test, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne: December 26-30
Fifth Test, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney: January 3-7, 2025
Looking back: Last five BGT series
Australia in India (2022-23): India won four-match series 2-1
India in Australia (2020-21): India won four-match series 2-1
India in Australia (2018-19): India won four-match series 2-1
Australia in India (2016-17): India won four-match series 2-1
India in Australia (2014-15): Australia won four-match series 2-0