Former India head coach Ravi Shastri reckons that the only way India can defeat Australia in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy is to hit their peak performance right from the start to compete with Australia on their turf. Shastri, who guided India to historic Test series victories in 2018 and 2021, admitted that facing Australia Down Under will be an incredibly tough challenge.
Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-24 is scheduled to take place from November 22 where the Men in Blue will play five Test matches. This series will be important for India to seal their spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) final which will take place next year in England.
Speaking on Fox Cricket on Tuesday, Shastri listed out what it takes to win a series in Australia.
“It’s going to be tough,” Shastri said. “As I found out on my three tours here as a coach, you have to be at your best. Your A game has to come to the park very early if you want to catch Australia on the wrong foot.
“You don’t want to give an inch. I think that is the only way. There is no other way you can play. You’ve got to, or you’re not going to get an inch.
“You have got to understand very early what to expect from the media as well, because they’ll be behind the Australian team. But if you can get your boys to get out there and play as hard as it gets be ready for some tough cricket and perform, the media will respect you,” Shastri added.
Team India are currently in Australia preparing at WACA in Perth to get comfortable with Australian conditions before the Test series. India captain Rohit Sharma and star batter Shubman Gill are all set to miss the first Test match as Rohit is blessed with a baby and currently spending time with his family in India. On the other hand, Shubman Gill got injured during match simulation at WACA, he fractured his thumb while fielding in slips.
India squad for Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25
Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Virat Kohli, Prasidh Krishna, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul, Harshit Rana, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar.
