The Indian team, after the surrender to New Zealand at home, is now in Australia for The Border Gavaskar Trophy. It is worth mentioning that India has somehow, won the trophy 4 consecutive times, including, twice in Australia. Looking back and looking at the batting, it is nothing short of a miracle. Anyway, the next edition is upon us and the Indian team has already landed at Perth, the venue of the first Test. Australia clearly is the favourite. There is no doubt about that. They won the most recent Test among the teams when they hammered India during the WTC finals at Lord’s. Yes, Australia did lose the ODI series, of all teams, to Pakistan but we all know that that is a different ball game altogether.
Australians, especially, Pat Cummins is determined enough to win the series. He is on record stating that this is the only trophy that he hasn’t won yet and would love to dearly. Almost all the Australian players, barring a few white-ball games, are well rested and is looking forward to the series. India on the otherhand, is knackered, defeated and humiliated and have silently moved into Australia. If reports are to be believed, only a handful of fans greeted them off the team bus. Perhaps, the Indian fans in Australia are not expecting anything substantial from the dad’s army, as are the fans in the country.
Lack of practice games
In the previous tour, India did play a couple of proper first class games to get used to the conditions. The Chinese Virus helped in that they were required travel to Australia, 6 weeks in advance which more or less, forced the Indians to play those games. However, the fact is that those games really helped in India winning the series though they were shot out for 36 in the first Test. This time, however, for some inexplicable reason, the team management has decided not to play a single practice game before the first Test. The stupidity of the Indian team, whenever they travel to any of the SENA countries, know no bounds. Here is a set of batsmen, who have become absolute mugs with the bat, having failed in familiar environs, travels to unfriendly condition and decides against a practice game. This is the height of ridiculousness.
The Indian team seems to turn themselves into a comedy circus. They have opted for “secret training”, whatever that means. Spectators are not allowed inside the ground to watch the Indians train. Not that it matters because there is nothing to watch. Everyone knows everything about the Indian cricketers. The huge tarps are erected to obscure the viewing public. However, it didn’t help because people brought ladders and drones to look at the training. Rather puzzlingly, on Tuesday, Bumrah, Kohli, Jadeja and Ashwin, chose to skip nets. None of them did anything against New Zealand and why would they be excused from training? The Indians stumble onto one stupidity to the other. Especially Kohli, who did not spend any significant amount of time on the field to be tired. This tour is extremely vital for Kohli. Failure here, chorus around demanding him to be dropped will only intensify.
Pacy Perth expected
India were just bowled out for 46 at Bangalore on a pitch that do not remotely resemble the pace and bounce of Perth. Now, reports have emerged that Perth will be at its fast and bouncy best.
“This is Australia, this is Perth… I’m setting ourselves up for really good pace, really good bounce and really good carry,” WA Cricket head curator Isaac McDonald told ESPNcricinfo. “In a perfect world, I want to emulate last year.”
This news is certainly not a welcome one for a team whose confidence is at its lowest ebb. Quite a few juniors, Jaiswal, Sarfaraz for whom this is their first tour to Australia, they would have heard about the bounce of Australian surfaces but now the thought of fronting on such a pitch, either their dream will come true or they will be shivering with fear. Last year, the bounce on the pitch between Australia and Pakistan was tough to bat that Pakistan wilted for 89.
The absence of Rohit Sharma will usually raise an alarm but now, it does not even matter. His presence as a batsman or as a captain is immaterial. His captaincy is not inspiring and his batting, particularly in Australia, is even less so. Average in Australia is less than that of Ashwin. Yet, he is the captain and Ashwin may not even feature in any of the Tests. Reports have emerged that Rohit will not be available for the first and second Test because of the birth of his second child. These guys, earlier this year, Kohli and now Rohit, time the delivery so perfectly that it does not disrupt their IPL participation. As Gavaskar pointed out, it will be better if he participates only as a batsman and not as the captain. Will the BCCI listen?
Wrapping up Australia clearly is the favourite
It promises to be an extremely difficult tour for India. On the oneside, Australia are raring to avenge successive series defeat and on the otherhand, India is ripe for the taking.
Other blogs about the BGT
https://icricketcritique.com/gautham-gambhir-the-new-coach/
https://icricketcritique.com/gautham-gambhir-must-reduce-talking/