Former Indian cricketer Chetan Sharma believes that India will defeat Australia in their own backyard in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Sharma believes that India is the number one team in the world and will give a tough fight to the hosts.
India have been the winners the last two times they have visited Australia for a Test series. In 2018-19, India created history by defeating Australia 2-1 and became the first Asian nation to beat Australia at home in a Test series.
The Men in Blue repeated the feat next time around in 2020-21. After losing the first Test, India came back strongly to win two of the next three Tests and win the series 2-1.
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During an interview with Revsportz, Chetan Sharma stated that India will go into the series with a lot of confidence after victories in their last two tours of Australia. He also added that Australia will have to fight hard to win the series.
“There was a time when we were thinking about what would happen when we went to Australia. How would we play? And in the last two tours, we went to Australia and beat them. Earlier, Australia took us lightly but now they know they have to give their best to beat India. We have built that reputation,” Chetan Sharma said.
Sharma even went on to say that India is the number one team in the world and will beat Australia in their own backyard.
“We are currently the number one team in the world. We will not only give them a tough fight but will give them a run for their money in their own backyard (hum unko bhagaynge unke hi ghar mein). I have a lot of confidence in the players,” he said.
“Our bowlers are our trump card” – Chetan Sharma
The former Indian fast bowler further stated that bowlers can win Test matches and that India has one of the best bowling attacks in the world. He termed India’s bowling attack as the trump card of the attack.
“I have said many times that bowlers will win you Test matches. Right now, Tea India has the best bowling attack in the world. We have always had good batsmen. Sometimes in foreign conditions, you get bowling when teams are bowled out for 250-260. Do you have the bowling attack to bowl them out?” argued Chetan Sharma.
“We have seen in recent times that we have bowlers capable of bowling out opponents even for 150. Our bowlers are our trump card,” Chetan Sharma added.
India will have a brilliant bowling attack if they can keep all their players fit for the series.
Jasprit Bumrah is expected to lead the attack while Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj will be the other two fast bowlers in the starting XI.
In Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, India also have two powerful bowlers capable of doing well in any conditions around the world.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is the most anticipated Test series of the year and is set to begin in November 2024. The first Test will be played in Perth and the next Test will be played in Adelaide, which is also a day-night Test.
The next three matches will be played in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney respectively. Melbourne will host the Boxing Day match, while Sydney will host the New Year’s Day match.