India Down Under – Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2018-19 #IndvAus

India Down Under – Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2018-19

Just days ago India played WestIndies in the T20I trophy which India clean sweeped, defeating the Champion Windies team with little trouble. That series had come to an end on 11thof November and within 10 days we will see the Indian team face off the Mighty Australians in their own Backyard. Interestingly the scheduling of Matches has changed. Like in England, it will be the 3 T20I’s which will be played first, then 4 match test series and the tour concludes with the 3 match ODI series. We have already seen the difference that it brings in the game plan and the way batsmen get used to the pitches and local conditions.

In the last 10 test matches that India played, India has won 5 and lost 5. But in that only two wins matter the most because they came against Proteas and England. Though India lost the last two away series, the performance of the team was much better than what the scorecards appear like. After playing South Africans and England in their home ground, Australia will be a much bigger challenge for the Indian team. Australia is lot different from the South Africa and England. The battle between India and Australia is arguably the third best rivalry in Cricket after India-Pak andAustralia-England rivalry.

This post is talking about theTest Series, because I feel when playing shorter formats the pitches don’t matter a lot as they do in tests involving the red cherry. So, talking about the Test Series that India will play, this Test Series is famously called asBorder-Gavaskar Trophy. Right now, India holds the trophy, thanks to their home series win against Australia in the early 2017.

But when India played the BorderGavaskar trophy away from home, India did not succeed any time. In last 5 times that India played Australia in Australia, India could manage the best possible result of drawing the series once in 2003-04, apart from that India has lost the series 4 times to the Aussies. So, the real test for India is the upcoming Test Series with the first test on 6th December at Adelaide Oval(Kohli’s Favourite). The venues for the test series are Adelaide Oval, Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney. India certainly look favourites on paper when you compare and do the player to player analysis. You would not find a player who can match Kohli & Pujara in batting. Same way not many in the bowling department can match the skills of Indian bowlers except for Mitchell Starc.

To me, this series for India should be the best one to clinch victory and stop the 18-year-old wait to win the Border-Gavaskar trophy outside India. Rather this will be the first time in the history if India goes on to win the test series. India has got the strong line-up in batting with Kohli, Murali Vijay, Pujara, Rahane, and adding to them is the new class of Prithvi Shaw and Hanuma Vihari. Batting which has been the ever continuing problem for India playing overseas looks to be managed well this time. Bowling department with Ishant, Bumrah, Yadav, Bhuvi, and spinners like Ashwin, Kuldeep and Jaddu can definitely are enough to take the 20 wickets needed for a win. The added advantage for India is the recent poor form of Aussies, who have lost their last test series against Pakistan. During that series, the Batting line up struggled a lot. If Indian batsmen can put up their best performance and give support to Captain Kohli, then I must say India can win this Series 2-1. Which looks 50% possible. Next best result for India should be 2-2. Which looks 30% possible and finally the series victory in favour of Australia. Which looks only 20% possibility.

Can’t tell what and how things would be by the time we tour Australia next, but with the uncomfortable and unsettled Australian team, which in itself is a rare case, India needs to use this as their best chance and bring the glory to the Country and retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy. 

#IndvAus #India #Australia #BorderGavaskarTrophy

Published by Sriram

A Teacher trying to Learn new things and explore the world each day! Believe in Happiness by the virtue of sacrifice and forgiveness.

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