Border-Gavaskar Trophy: India and Australia play the first Test of a four-match series in Nagpur from February 9. These two countries are the greatest rivals in Test cricket in the modern game. Can the latest edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy live up to its billing? It will, for several reasons.
There is a lot at stake when India and Australia will lock horns in the Border-Gavaskar trophy (Courtesy: PTI)
By Rajarshi Gupta: This is the moment of reckoning for India and Australia. Over two years after a fiercely fought series, the two countries will face off in another blockbuster edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy from February 9 in Nagpur.
India vs Australia is a storied rivalry but once upon a time, the contests were really one-sides. They played their first Test against each other in 1947-48 but it wasn’t until 1959 that India won their first Test against the Aussies.
India had to wait for another two decades to finally win a series against Australia, who came visiting in 1979. Sunil Gavaskar led from the front with 123 in the sixth and final Test at the Wankhede to secure a 2-0 triumph.
The Test series between India and Australia was named the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 1996. India won the one-off Test in Delhi and have since held the edge over the Australians. In 52 Tests under the BGT label, India have won 22 matches while Australia have won 9. In 15 series since 1996, India have won 9, Australia have won 5, while the 2003-04 series ended in a draw.
Moreover, India have won the last three series against Australia. In 2016-17, India fought back heroically after losing the first Test in Pune, won against an Australian team without Steve Smith and David Warner in 2018-19 and an under-strength Indian team stunned Australia in 2020-21. The last two series triumphs, importantly, came in Australia.
India has majorly dented Australian pride. Imagine winning Boxing Day Test matches and breaching the Gabba fortress – Australia are perhaps still looking for numbers and a suitable response as they prepare to face the onslaught of Indian spin and reverse swing in conditions that they would not have found in Pakistan nor in Sri Lanka.
Ian Healy wanted fair pitches for the four Test matches in Nagpur, Delhi, Dharamsala and Ahmedabad but he was met with immediate retorts. Shouldn’t home teams prepare pitches to suit their strengths? Has Australia not done that? But these are early days for this version of the BGT and you could expect more barbs as the series progresses.
Certainly, the spinners will hold sway in the series, but is that not to be expected in India? Little surprise then that the narrative revolved around R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Swepson and Ashton Agar.
How will the batters face up to this excellent line-up of spinners? India will miss Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer, two of the best players of spin in the sub-continent. While Pant was ruled out because of a road accident in December, Iyer would not be available for the first Test in Nagpur due to an injury.
India have some good options to pick from, but to fill the Pant-Iyer void will be a huge task.
Rishabh Pant has been an enforcer for India lower down the order and his aggressive intent against spin has often thrown the opposition off course. Besides, he is a much better wicketkeeper than when he started off. India, of course, has KS Bharat and Ishan Kishan to choose from. From the looks of it, Bharat should be a direct replacement, having spent considerable time as Pant’s understudy in the Indian Test side.
Ishan Kishan’s form has dipped after his ODI double hundred in Bangladesh late last year, but will India look to settle that one spot with a like-for-like replacement? Like Pant, Ishan loves taking on the bowlers and that could be a temptation for the team management.
There is also talk of Suryakumar Yadav coming in for Shreyas Iyer. SKY has been in sensational T20I form over the last year and former coach Ravi Shastri believes he could rattle the Australian spinners on turning tracks.
Australia’s problems are no less complicated. While their batting line-up is sorted, they will miss Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in Nagpur and Cameron Green is almost certain to be left out because he is not fit enough to bowl. Their spin attack will be led by Nathan Lyon who is eyeing a couple of milestones of his own.
But these are just battles within a war. The India-Australia Test series are as much about skills as they are about attrition and one-upmanship. Neither team would want their players to take a step back in the heat of battle.
Australia have shown a different personality under Pat Cummins – more relaxed, more smiles, more warmth. India, too, have moved on from the Kohli-Shastri era to a softer approach to the Rohit-Dravid regime. However, unlike Australia, India’s recent Test fortunes have taken a slide.
India’s pacers have lacked the killer instinct to pull off those spectacular wins. Months after they wrenched out a stunning win at Lord’s in 2021, the Indian pace battery failed to deliver victories from three strong positions in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Birmingham. As recently as December 2022, India pulled off a narrow win against Bangladesh in Mirpur to win the series 2-0.
Then there is the prospect of the World Test Championship final. India need to win the series 2-0 or 3-1 to make it to the title clash. Their immediate thoughts may not be on that, but the Indians would want to continue their domination over Australia. The Nagpur pitch has already created a buzz, with the Australian media calling the surface ‘dodgy’.
This is the greatest Test rivalry of the century and there is more at stake than World Test Championship points. The likes of Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Steve Smith, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon have been the architects of some of the most thrilling Test matches of this generation. From Thursday, these protagonists of some of the most well documented India-Australia classics will play for pride and glory – nothing can stop this series from being one of the most memorable ever.
