New Delhi: Former Australian men’s head coach John Buchanan feels the Pat Cummins-led side is the early favourite to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, given the present lack of preparation time for visiting teams before a tour.
From November 22 to January 7, 2025, India and Australia will face off in a significant five-match series at Perth, Adelaide (pink-ball game), Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney. Australia has not won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since 2014/15, when India defeated them in the 2018/19 and 2020/21 series, respectively.
“I never give predictions, but I will say Australia is favourite at the start of the series. When you look around world cricket these days, it’s very difficult to tour other countries. One of the reasons for that is that travelling teams no longer have that preparation of playing two-three games before the first Test to get used to conditions,” said Buchanan, who was in Mumbai to launch the multi-sports foundation program ‘Ready Steady Go Kids’ with CP Goenka International School in partnership with Sports Gurukul.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be expanded to five Test matches this year, the first time since the 1991/92 series. In preparation for the crucial series, India will play five home Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand.
The India ‘A’ team is also scheduled to play two four-day matches in Mackay and Brisbane before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy starts. In contrast, Australia’s players will prioritise playing first-class matches through the Sheffield Shield.
Buchanan, the two-time men’s ODI World Cup winner, believes Australia has a minor advantage over India due to their batting lineup. “It’s going to be a classic series. Five Tests, which is one more Test than what we had previously. It does make a difference as by the time the teams reach Sydney, they would have played presumably four hard Test matches before that in a short period of time.”
“It’s going to test their resolve physically and mentally. The teams are pretty evenly matches with strong bowling line-ups. Personally, I still favour the Australian batting lineup a little bit at this point,” he concluded.
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–IANS
