In this year’s much-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy, legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar has forecasted a 3-1 victory for India against Australia. India has won the last two editions of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2018/19 and 2020/21 that were held in Australia. The 2024/25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy will host both teams squaring off in an important five-match series at Perth, Adelaide (pink-ball game), Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney respectively.
“It is going to be an exciting series for sure considering the skills displayed by both teams and it will also prove why Test match cricket is indeed the best form of our cherished game,” wrote Gavaskar in his column for Sunday Mid-day. My prediction: “3-1 win to India.”
He also believes that Left Hand openers David Warner will be a significant loss for Australia because he has already retired from international cricket this year. However, since then, Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja have batted together at the top of the order for Australia in Tests where they have only averaged 21.3 runs in seven innings.
“After the retirement of David Warner when their opening batting problems have worsened, Australians are quite vulnerable. The first Test match will be very important because India usually starts slowly in foreign series particularly within SENA countries.”
“Furthermore, they are not holding any legitimate first-class games before that and among Test matches, there are some one-week large gaps which could be detrimental to them. However, it is how scheduling works for most teams that tour,” he concluded
Some have predicted that Australia will win the trophy and Gavaskar gave some advice about the mind games that happened ahead of the series which will start on November 22. This is also the first five-match Test series between these teams since 1991/92.
Gavaskar also noted that it would be helpful for India ‘s five Test matches (at home), before they go to Australia as it is hard to mentally prepare for a tour like theirs. Meanwhile, even before the matches have begun, Australian players both old and young have raised their voices in opinions about what would happen.
“In spite of not making bold statements like Glenn McGrath about clean sweeps, they still imply victory. Unfortunately, all former players and current ones apart from Ravi Shastri are not able to tackle mind games the way Australians do.”
“If he continues to bat up front against Bumrah, perhaps Ravichandran Ashwin should inform us about some unique ball he is creating specifically against Steve Smith,” he added.
