Under Pressure India Clash with Aussies in Border-Gavaskar Trophy Opener

PERTH: The nostalgia of Brisbane 2021 refuses to fade but India, still reeling from a bitter home debacle, will be under tremendous pressure when they face an equally circumspect Australia in a battle of two out-of-form batting units in the opening Test of the marquee Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting in Perth on Friday.

In 2018-19 and 2020-21, India proved that lightning can strike twice with back to back series wins but the manner in which New Zealand came, saw and decimated them on home turf recently has certainly hit the psyche of an otherwise world-class unit.

The undeniable truth is that some of the stars driving this unit are in the twilight of their hallowed careers. How the five-match rubber against Pat Cummins and his men unfolds could well decide their future.

A record third World Test Championship final entry that looked imminent before the start of the New Zealand series, now seems like a distant dream. A 4-0 score-line has become an absolute necessity for India to avoid relying on other teams.

And a 4-0 scoreline on Australian soil is as improbable a proposition as an Indian football team beating Brazil or Argentina in a FIFA friendly.

But anyone who has seen this current bunch from close quarters will vouch that this team can bounce back from the brink. It also tends to play its best cricket when Doubting Thomases enjoy a condescending chuckle at their expense.

In this backdrop, Australia, ready to avenge the humiliation suffered in last five years, face a team that enters the cage without its regular skipper (Rohit Sharma on paternity break), its best exponent of reverse swing (Mohammed Shami, still not 100 per cent fit) and a future skipper (Shubman Gill, thumb fracture).

Virat Kohli, Rohit, who will arrive before the second Test in Adelaide, and senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin are facing that moment of reckoning yet again and an indifferent result could have repercussions.

Kohli's coronation as 'King Kohli' happened in 2014 in this very country with those four hundreds while Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant still make appearances in the nightmares of the Aussie bowling quartet, which will certainly be playing its last Border-Gavaskar series together.

This will perhaps be the series which will be decided by bowlers more than ever with Jasprit Bumrah, leading in the opening game, entrusted with the duty of setting the tone against a line-up which has been far from its best even at home in recent times.

Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep are likely to be Bumrah's partners but the lanky Prasidh Krishna and the burly Harshit Rana are also staking a claim with impressive skill sets.

Whatever be the composition, the home batters cannot afford to take it lightly. Steve Smith's average in the current WTC cycle (2023-25) is just around 36 while his career average is an impressive 56 plus in over 100 Tests.

Marnus Labuschagne's career average is nearly 50 but in the last two years, it has nose-dived to less than 30.

Travis Head has been India's nemesis in back to back ICC finals within months of each other but even his average is a lowly 28 plus in this cycle.

Save for Usman Khawaja, who even at the business end of his career epitomises consistency, keeper Alex Carey and skipper Cummins, who is now a proper all-rounder, the batting hasn't exactly inspired confidence.

Australia's tail has a better chance of wagging given that India are mulling on playing the better spinner in Ravichandran Ashwin instead of a far better batter in Ravindra Jadeja. Agencies

 Also Read: Jasprit Bumrah Named Captain For Border-Gavaskar Trophy Opener

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