India‘s performance in 2nd Test match against Australia wasn’t that promising. The Test match got ended inside 3 days, the so good looking India’s batting line up in 1st Test match of 2nd innings was exposed twice in 2nd Test match. There have been questions raised on batters’ temperament and the change in batting line up especially of skipper Rohit Sharma who demoted himself at No.6 position for KL Rahul to open the innings.
India is badly missing the services of the lethal speedster Mohammed Shami who is yet to get a clearance from NCA (National cricket academy) as he is not yet 100% fit. Even Rohit Sharma pointed out in press conference that alone Jasprit Bumrah can’t take all wickets & said that rest of bowlers need to step in. The 3rd Test match is from 14th December at Brisbane which is just door steps away.
India is now bearing the consequences of losing New Zealand Test series- Basit Ali
Basit Ali was seen speaking on his YouTube channel. Basit Ali pointed out that it won’t be an easy task for Indian team to win BGT 2024-25 by 4-1 and said that instead of that just focus on winning the series. Basit Ali wants the India vs Australia ICC WTC 2023-25 final and was quite optimistic that Australia will qualify for the final if India misses out.
โCan India win the series 4-1? It seems difficult. Now, India should focus on winning the Border-Gavaskar series. Now, discussions will start about the whitewash against New Zealand. India will deeply regret that it was a huge mistake,” said Basit Ali.
“No one could have imagined that the Indian team, which was defeated by England on their home ground, would be whitewashed by New Zealand. But this is what cricket is about. India is now bearing the consequences of losing that series,โ he stated.
โIf India are out, Australia will have very bright chances. Australia have the advantage of five matches, while India only has three. Let’s see. The final should be between India and Australia,โ he added.
Uphill ICC WTC 2023-25 Final Race
Skipper Rohit Sharma will have to pull a rabbit out of the hat to qualify for ICC WTC 2023-25 final. India’s main problem is that they don’t have any other Test series scheduled after BGT 2024-25; Australia are slated to play 2 Test Match series against Sri Lanka in January-February which will give them another chance of qualifying even if they lose BGT 2024-25 series.
๐๐๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐ฐ ๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ! ๐๐ฅ
South Africa claims the top spot on the WTC table after their fifth consecutive Test win! ๐ช
The Proteas are one step closer to booking their place in the final at Lord's! ๐๐ฟ๐ฆ#SouthAfrica #Tests #WTC #Sportskeeda pic.twitter.com/vu52jHCdgX
— Sportskeeda (@Sportskeeda) December 9, 2024
In all these permutations and combinations, South Africa has topped the points table for India to qualify for the ICC WTC 2023-25 final. If South Africa wins its last two Test matches against Pakistan, they will undoubtedly qualify for the final. Despite playing only 12 Test matches in WTC cycle, South Africa have made a strong mark and are banging the door of ICC WTC 2023-25 final.
INDIA'S WTC FINAL SCENARIO ๐ฎ๐ณ
Win BGT 4-1 or 3-1 – India qualifies.
Win BGT 3-2 – India qualifies if SL beat Aus in one of two Tests.
If BGT 2-2 – India qualifies if SL beat Aus 2-0.
If India lose BGT 2-3 – India qualifies if Pak beat SA 2-0 & Aus beat SL in one of two Tests. pic.twitter.com/WQsAbn848m
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) December 9, 2024
It’s quite crystal clear for India to take 1 match at a time and not look far ahead. The visitors need their star duo Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma both of them to grind the opposition and not fall into the trap of Australian bowlers. If Indian cricket team wins Test series by 3-1 or 4-1 then Aussies’ chances can also get hampered and we can say still a lot is yet to happen in this snakes & ladder race.