Border Gavaskar Trophy 24-25

India lost the series to Australia 1-3 and relinquished its 10 year hold on the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The last 10 years saw some fantastic closely fought matches which enthralled the cricket lovers not just in these 2 countries, but across the world. No quarter was given and none was taken during these matches. Some of the best players to have played for India kept the trophy firmly with India.

However, there was a nagging feeling that the trophy would be snatched during the 24-25 series. Many of the players who won us the matches had either retired or been dropped. Some of the other players are probably coming to the end of the careers. The young replacements were either not experienced or not good enough to fill the shoes of the experienced oldies.

India arrived in Australia after losing a home series for the first time in about 13 years. The series loss against New Zealand was an unprecedented whitewash. It exposed our batting line up like never before. There were continuous doubts on our batting lineup against a seaming and swinging ball. In addition, the batsmen now were showing frailty against spin. No longer can Indian batsmen be called as masters against spin bowling.

With many questions hanging around their performances, the Indian team, for arguably one of the toughest places to play cricket, did not have 2 of the main players who were hugely responsible for the wins in the last 2 visits. While Mohammad Shami was injured, Pujara was dropped. Their replacements were either not there in the team nor the players selected in their place turned out to be good enough.

The Pujara style of play was a key ingredient for the wins in 17-18 and 20-21. He had the ability to wear down the opposition bowlers and put a high price on his wicket. He was strong in defence and willing to take body blows while staying focussed and unfluttered. The selectors for the team of 24-25 have a lot of explaining to do as to why no such player was picked. Or whether they had identified such a player, probably K L Rahul. who had however failed to perform his role. Irony was that Australia adoped the tactic, effectively peformed by Marnus Labuschagne, who was able to wear down Bumrah.

The other player who was sorely missed was Mohammad Shami. His dual act with Bumrah was instrumental in many wins. His control over line and length and strike rate would have been a wonderful support to Bumrah. As the statistics showed, Bumrah had no support from the other end, especially from Siraj.

Another disturbing fact noticed during this tour was the tendency by the players to talk big, especially by the young players. These players had no great body of work to support their mouthing off of the opposition players. It is becoming evident with every passing year, that probably it is their PR agencies who are goading them in their behaviour. The players should know that once their game falls of, these PR agencies would not think twice before hitching their fortunes to another player.

To summarise the reasons which led to the series loss are: a. Senior batsmen Rohit, Virat and Rahul failed totally. I am not adding Rishabh to this list as he is making a comeback after a horrendous accident. Deserves some leeway. b. No support for Bumrah c. Poor captaincy by Rohit.

When the causes are further analysed and delved into, some worrying factors were displayed by the team:

1.    1. Poor technique by every Indian batsman. It is as if, the crease does not exist for them. Whatever be the length of the ball, every batsman takes a huge front step. No Indian player has a proper backfoot game. This is the result of flat IPL pitches. I guess, all the players  have an eye for an IPL contract.

2.     2. KL Rahul needs to be dropped permanently from all forms of cricket. 58 tests for an average of 33 for a top order batsman is pathetic. He has had enough chances. Plus, his defeatist body language. Should have been dropped after his innings in the 2023 ODI final. 

    3.From BGT tour of 20-21 to 24-25, Gill and Siraj are the 2 players who have not improved at all. 

    4. Shubman Gill - Same technical faults - hard hands, no defense, no backfoot play, no patience etc.  

  5. Siraj has shown no improvement in 4 yrs since his debut. He has not shown the ability to bowl yorker/bouncer/slow ball. He always bowls with a  scrambled seam, is inconsistent with his line/length. He has not displayed any thought process in bowling. Hence, he is not even averaging 3 wickets per test in 36 tests. Ricky Ponting had mentioned that one of Bumrah’s success is his ability to dry up the runs. Siraj does not have that control over line and length. In the absence of Bumrah in the 2nd innings at Sydney, he had the opportunity to step and lead the attack. He failed miserably. He should not be even 3rd bowler in the team. 

   6. If Kohli is not able to overcome his offstump weakness, then in addition to himself, every coach including Shastri, Dravid, Gambhir have a part in Kohli’s weakness being so brutally exposed. Kohli does not have a backfoot game. Shows that he too has not worked on his game. Plus his own ego and antics. 

   7. Rohit and Rishabh seem to have lost the ability to construct an innings. Both the players go for their shots from the first ball. Shows a lack of patience and lack of confidence in their defensive play.

   8. Before NZ series, Rohit and Kohli had opportunities to play atleast 1 Duleep trophy game. They did not do so. Reflects arrogance and lack of respect for the game. 

    9. Sundar and Jadeja were also big disappointments. Both had just one decent innings and hardly any  impact with their bowling.

   10. Yashasvi Jaiswal has continued with his sensational first year in cricket. He seems to be the real deal. Nitish Reddy had one fantastic century. Hope both Yashaswi and Nitish build on their initial successes. 

   11. AkashDeep, Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna. Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel showed promise. Hope, they do not get wrongly influenced like others by IPL.  

   12. There are huge questions on the roles and inputs of the support staff. Many batsmen showed technical faults. Wonder if the batting coach had any suggestings to them. The bowlers were consistently bowling wrong lengths on the Australian pitches. The old weakness of dropped catches by the fielders was on show again.

     Coach Gambhir in his short tenure has shown he is not able to read wickets properly. He has picked a wrong team on multiple occasions. The strategy to select 3 different spinners for the first 3 tests backfired and showed muddled thinking.

   In total, this BGT team of 24-25, reflected the teams of 80s,90s & 2000s,where every dept had shortcomings. Huge disappointment. For the vast amounts of monies that are invested in cricket, the Return on Investment(ROI) in terms of trophies is abysmal.