Former Australia coach John Buchanan has picked Australia as favourites to win the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy and end their Test series win drought over India that has continued since 2014-15.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 is the most anticipated series of the year, which will see Australia host India for a five-match Test series. The gruelling series will be played in November this year and will continue till early next year.
India have achieved historic Test series victories the last two times they have travelled to Australia. In fact, India have won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on all four previous occasions, twice at home and twice away. As a result, Australia will be desperate to prove something in the upcoming series.
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John Buchanan explains why Australia will win the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy
At an event at the CP Goenka International School in Mumbai, John Buchanan was asked to predict the outcome of the series. While John Buchanan refused to give any figures, he predicted that Australia would win the series due to India’s lack of preparation.
John Buchanan has claimed that India will struggle while playing on the shaky wickets of Perth right after the home Test series against Bangladesh and New Zealand.
“I never make predictions about numbers, but I would say I think Australia are the favourites going into the series at this stage.
“Particularly when you look at world cricket these days, and it has been for some time, it’s very difficult to travel to other countries, and one of the reasons for that is that the travelling teams don’t have that preparation in one country anymore,” John Buchanan was quoted as saying by TOI.
“They don’t play two or three games before they play the first Test to adapt to a country, because nobody wants to be on tour for that long. That makes it very difficult when you go to Perth, when the pitch is fast and bouncy, for a team coming from… obviously they’ll have played Bangladesh and New Zealand at home.
“So the wickets will be completely different. While it’s fantastic to get started with Test cricket, it will be quite difficult going to Perth to start,” he added.
India are not scheduled to play any practice matches as of yet before the start of the Test series in November. However, the Men in Blue will play a warm-up match ahead of the day-night Test in Adelaide.
India’s schedule for Test series in Australia
The series will begin on November 22 in Perth, which is expected to offer a pitch full of pace and vibrancy. The second Test match in Adelaide will begin on December 6. The last time India played a Test match in Adelaide, they were bowled out for a record 36 and ended up losing the match.
The historic Gabba in Brisbane will host the third Test of the series. This is the same ground where India ended Australia’s 32-year reign with a historic Test win in the 2020-21 series. The fourth and fifth Tests will be played in Melbourne and Sydney. While Melbourne will host the historic Boxing Day Test, Sydney will host the New Year Test.
