Border-Gavaskar Trophy || 57 Matches Young

Edition #203

I’d like to circle back to cricket, and I’m very happy to get to cover this topic, because…

The Border Gavaskar trophy.

This is one of the most intense events I’ve ever been a part of, and both sides are under pressure.

India has gone 10-5-1 in the Border-Gavaskar trophy series all-time and has not lost a Border-Gavaskar series since 2014, ten years ago. They won it on home soil. 4 of Australia’s wins come at home, and they only have one win in India, coming in 2004.

The only problem history-wise would be that Australia hasn’t recovered from a 1-0 deficit to win a test series since the 1997 Ashes tour.

They can definitely come back. Australia hasn’t lost a pink ball test ever in the history of this series, and coming to 1-1 can bolster the confidence of this team. But, Rohit Sharma is back, and Australia has already lost to the JV India team. Even with the pink-ball advantage, Australia already took advantage of the Perth conditions, and they could do so again with Adelaide.

Australia’s Pink-Ball Tests in Adelaide RESULTS

2015: Three-wicket win vs New Zealand

2016: Seven-wicket win vs South Africa

2017: 120-run win vs England

2019: Innings and 48-run win vs Pakistan

2020: Eight-wicket win vs India

2021: 275-run win vs England

2022: 419-run win vs West Indies

Australian batting average in pink-ball Tests

63.85: Marnus Labuschagne

49.36: Travis Head

40.00: Steve Smith

39.69: Usman Khawaja

35.14: Alex Carey

15.75: Mitchell Marsh

Now, there are some big storylines to cover, and the 1st one is Scott Boland. cott Boland will replace the injured Josh Hazlewood for the test match. Josh Hazlewood has been one of the most successful bowlers in pink-ball cricket, especially when playing in Adelaide, where he’s talked 39 wickets in 9 of these tests, with an average of 19.48. He really has killed these types of test matches.

Scott Boland doesn’t have much experience in pink-ball test matches, especially with his age being high. Plus, he hasn’t represented Australia in a match in 18 months. but he has taken 14 total wickets in these matches and has an average of 13.71. Boland will be a sustaining replacement for Hazelwood.

Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, and Scott Boland. That’s going to be the XI for Australia.

Shubman Gill will be back in the lineup for India, and if he can get on a roll against the Australian team, India will be good to go!

The last pink-ball test has probably been etched in every Indian fan’s memory, and most likely be for the rest of their lives.

It started really well. Virat Kohli scored 74 in the first innings, leading to a score of 244 altogether. Not bad, especially because Australia only managed to score 191 (Tim Paine had 73). Ravichandran Ashwin had 4 outs for the Indians.

That was when things fell apart for India.

We all know how the ball drastically changes as the test goes on, and that’s the case here because Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins both went on to take 9 wickets, holding India to 36 runs, the lowest-ever test total in test cricket’s 147-year history.

All Australia needed was 90 runs, which they scored with ease, and took the test, tying the series. Australia went on to lose the series.

Keys to an Australia win:

Nathan Lyon needs to perform like he always does. Same with Labuschagne and Mitchell Starc. If they can all do this, and if they can get an impressive performance from Head or Khawaja (stats say they will do well), then the Australians will have a huge chance at winning this one.

Now, the slight problem is Jaspreet Bumrah. While Bumrah hasn’t done well against Australia specifically, in his 3 pink-ball test matches, he’s taken 10 wickets, with his best one coming against Sri Lanka. He took 5 wickets in that game. With the pitch being good for pace, Bumrah has a legit shot of doing really well. Australia needs to control him and wish for his game to be out of hand with the pink ball.

Keys to an India win:

India cannot collapse in the middle of the test like they did last time. The Indian pace bowlers need to do well, but even if they do, the Indians must do well against the Australian bowling attack. Be patient. India must take advantage of the daytime because once dusk settles in, Nathan Lyon will come into bowl, and it’s most likely over for the Indian team, because of the movements of the pink ball.

Contributions from just Bumrah (above details), won’t make the cut for India. Nitesh Kumar Reddy has to perform at least par if India wants a good chance to bowl well against the Australian attack.

All being said, I believe Australia will take this pink-ball test match. India will have fixed their kinks from the last day/night match, and we’ll see a good and contested one. Australia wins by 3 wickets.

For all you people in the East Coast of the USA that are interested in watching this matchup, be sure to sleep in the afternoon (unless you can stay up all day), because this one is at 11:00 P.M. You may be able to catch a bit of it in the morning, and it’ll probably be the most interesting part. The series will go on until December 10th, 2024, and Australia needs to win this game to retain their position in the World Test Championship.