After the T20 World Cup triumph, the Indian fans are eagerly awaiting the start of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Australia. It is worth mentioning that India have emerged victorious on their last two trips to Australia. Meanwhile, legendary Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, has given an early prediction on who will win the series.
Speaking to ICC, Ponting shared his thoughts on the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He highlighted its competitive nature and the significance of Australia having something to prove after losing the last two series at home against India.
Ponting pointed out the importance of having five Tests instead of four, which adds to the excitement. Despite the last two series losses at home, the Australian former skipper has come up with a predicted scoreline of 3-1 in favour of Australia.
He acknowledged that there might be a draw due to bad weather, however, he firmly backed Australia to win the series.
“It’s going to be a competitive series and as I said I think Australia’s got a bit of a point to prove against India in Australia on the back of what’s happened the last the last two series here. We are back to five Tests as well, which is the other really important thing about this series. It’s only been four Tests the last couple of times. Five tests, I think everyone’s really excited by that and I don’t know if there’d be too many drawn games,” he said in the ICC review.
“I’m obviously going to tip Australia to win and I’m never going to tip against Australia. There will be a draw somewhere and there will be some bad weather somewhere, so I’m going to say 3-1 to Australia,” Ponting added.
India have won the last two Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia
Team India, under Virat Kohli, travelled to Australia for the 2018 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The trio of Indian pacers with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma were sensational as India stunned an Australian side without prolific batters, Steve Smith and David Warner, who were serving their suspension due to the ball tampering scandal in South Africa.
India went on to win their first ever Test series by a 2-1 margin on Australian soil to script history.
On their next trip, India arrived for the Test series in 2020-21. India suffered a humiliating defeat in the first Test in Adelaide, with the team getting all-out for 36 runs in the second innings in Adelaide. A lot of cricket pundits had predicted that Australia would go on to thump the Indian side without Kohli, who returned back home for the birth of his first child.
However, a resurgent Indian side under Ajinkya Rahane fought back, defied all odds, and went on to win the series 2-1. That marked as, arguably, the greatest ever Test series win in Indian cricket history. The upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 begins on 22nd November in Perth.
