Ahead of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-2025, Australian former skipper Ricky Ponting boldly predicts Australia will dominate the Indians and win the series by 3-1. He already predicted it in August this year and he’s still comfortable feeling the same way after the recent performance of India in the series against New Zealand. He belives the unavailability of the Indian pacer Mohammed Shami is a big setback for the Indian team as they will find it difficult to take 20 wickets.
“Mohammed Shami just leaves such a big hole in that bowling group. I think taking 20 wickets in a Test match for India is going to be the biggest challenge. I think they’ll bat well enough out here with the current group of batters that they’ve got,” Ponting said.
He believes that India might be able to win a test sometime in this five-match series but won’t be able to win the series, he is convinced that Australia is a tough team to defeat especially when they’re playing in their backyard.
“I think India will win a Test match somewhere through the five Test matches. But I still think now, Australia probably look a bit more settled, a bit more experienced and we know that they’re a very hard team to beat at home. So I’ll stick with the 3-1,” Ponting said.
Keeping recent performances in mind, Ponting predicts that Rishabh Pant or Steve Smith will be the leading run scorers in the Border Gavaskar Trophy, and with the ball, he believes that Josh Hazelwood will be the leading wicket-taker.
“I think Smith, the fact that he’s moved back down from opener to No.4 probably makes it feel like he’s got more of a point to prove…that maybe he shouldn’t have gone up to open in the first place and that No.4 is his spot and where he should have probably been the whole time and where he probably finished his career now,” Ponting stated. “With Rishabh back in the side and probably coming into bat in the middle order when the ball’s probably lost a bit of its shine and a bit of its hardness and the form that he’s in, I’ll go for him as one of the leading run scorers as well,” he added.
“I think Hazlewood out of the Australian quicks, is right at the moment, is probably at the peak of his powers more than the other guys. So I’ll go with him for the leading wicket-taker,”
The first test match between Australia vs India will start on 22 November 2024 in Perth.
Jasir Basharat is a cricket enthusiast capturing the heart of the game through insightful analysis and storytelling sharing his passion for the sport through engaging narratives. He is a business graduate from University of Kashmir.
