The India national cricket team is all geared up to take on Australia in the first Test of the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 series from November 22. The first Test of the series will be played at the Optus Stadium in Perth and both teams are geared up to play the opening match of the series. The Indian team will be led by pacer Jasprit Bumrah in the absence of Rohit Sharma who will be missing out from the match due to personal reasons. The Indian team won the previous four editions of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, out of which two were in Australia. The Indian team is once again the favourites to defeat Australia, however, the Aussies are very deadly at home and it will not be an easy task for Team India.
Team India played a three-day intra squad match between in addition to check their preparations ahead of the series. Earlier, the Indian team was scheduled to play a practice match against India A, but it got cancelled on the last moment. Former England skipper Michael Vaughan showcased a worry behind Team India opting out of a practice match ahead of a tough Australian tour. Speaking to Fox Cricket, Vaughan stated that the Indian team didn’t play a single practice match at the WACA to get used to the bounce at the Optus Stadium.
Michael Vaughan said, “Time will tell. I’m surprised that this Indian side didn’t want at least one game of cricket, and the WACA’s the perfect venue because it’s a similar pitch to Optus (Stadium), so you get used to the bounce. These players have a different kind of mindset to what we had, whereas we probably needed more games.”
Michael Vaughan further stated that the modern-day players don’t need that much game time as they have been playing competitive cricket over the period of last 12 months. He said, “They’re playing 12 months of the year and get straight into it, but it’ll be intriguing to see how both sets of players settle on that first day when they’re playing the longer form. The modern player maybe believes that they don’t need (tour matches). They think they get enough cricket throughout the year and they can react and just adapt. I just like to see teams win and stick a marker down.”
The India national cricket team consists of big names including Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah. The likes of young players such as Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill will add more fire to the Indian batting lineup. The addition of Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna may benefit the Indian team and they can prove to be very essential on bouncy Australian surfaces.
