As the dust settles on the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar series, with Australia hammering India 3-1 to eventually reclaim the trophy after a decade’s wait, cricket experts from either side lamented the absence of star quick Mohammed Shami from the crucial tour with Ravi Shastri and Ricky Ponting pointing out that the pacer’s presence might have made a difference.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri said a player of Shubman Gill’s quality must feature in India’s playing eleven in Tests, adding that how he fits in for the Sydney Test against Australia is the team’s call.
Former Indian cricketer and head coach Ravi Shastri shared his thoughts on the performances of cricket’s legendary "Fab Four"—Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson.
Rohit Sharma’s decision to bat in the middle order in the Adelaide and Brisbane Tests, has failed to yield the desired results for the Indian team in the Border-Gavaskar series so far.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has suggested skipper Rohit Sharma needs to channel his successful white-ball approach while coming out to bat at number six in the upcoming Boxing Day Test against Australia, starting in Melbourne on Thursday.
The four-match series is currently tied at 1-1 with Australia winning the first Test in Adelaide while India winning the second in Melbourne.
But when calibrated evaluations of competing cricketers’ attributes lead up to a conclusion where narrowly defined niches are pointed at for players good enough to be in the national mix, you are apt to be left wondering if the batsmen as well as the wicketkeepers are not befuddled.
Team India travelled to Australia directly from the United Arab Emirates, where they had participated in the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL).
Kohli, who made his international debut in 2008, has so far represented India in 86 Tests, 248 ODIs and 82 T20Is, scoring 7240, 11867 and 2794 runs, respectively.
Yuzvendra Chahal has so far played 52 ODIs and 42 T20Is for India in which he has scalped 91 and 55 wickets respectively.
