Ahead of the 2024–25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, former Australia captain Adam Gilchrist thinks the senior players may be demoralised by India’s Test series thumping of New Zealand. The former batsman-wicketkeeper is eager to see how Rohit Sharma and his team recover from the setback.
Notably, in the three-match Test series, major guns like Rohit and Virat Kohli fell short of expectations. In six innings, the pair only scored 93 and 91 runs, respectively. Ahead of the five-match Test series in Australia, there is cause for concern as the two players had only scored one fifty in the previous five Test matches.
Senior all-rounders Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, in addition to batsmen, also did not perform well with the bat. Adam Gilchrist has represented Australia in 96 Test matches. He guided his team to a 2-1 series victory in India during the 2004–05 Border Gavaskar Trophy when Ricky Ponting was away.
Adam Gilchrist Says Important Players Will Question Themselves
Adam Gilchrist points out big Indian players saying that they will have pressure coming into the Border Gavaskar series. He said :
“I think that will raise some questions internally and the pressure, the expectation and the desire from a passionate cricketing nation to see that change around, that’ll ride heavily on those shoulders of all those players.
“There are a few ageing players there who may start to even second guess themselves a little bit. There’s some high-class cricketers in that Indian squad. It’s going to be fascinating to see how they rebound from that challenge.”
“It does (have an impact), more for the Indian players and the Indian team internally. They have to be asking themselves pretty hard questions.
“I’m not expecting them to come out and be easy beats, but I do think on the back of that loss and the fact that it was a clean sweep — I cannot remember when that’s happened to them, just losing a series, let alone a clean sweep.” says Adam Gilchrist
Kerry O’Keefe, a former spinner for Australia, also discussed the significance of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In the same exchange, he stated:
“They have trump cards still, India. That’s why they’re dangerous. (Jasprit) Bumrah and (Rishabh) Pant are absolute trumps. Shubman Gill will develop into outstanding number three. They have the spin if it turns in (Ravindra) Jadeja and (Ravi) Ashwin.”
“But their champions are in the twilight and they’re coming for one more tilt at us, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. That is the key. They are so good, and have been so good, but you don’t want to come to Australia in the twilight. It’s a tough place,” he added.
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