Former Australia cricketer Kerry O'Keeffe reckons that Pat Cummins & Co. will go really hard on Indian captain Rohit Sharma during the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2025. Rohit Sharma-led India will play five Test matches against Australia where they will look to register their third consecutive win on Australian soil.
Over the years, India has regained an upper hand over Australia in the series. India has won its previous four series against Australia in a row. India are more successful side by winning BGT 10 times and Australia won it five times. Australia last defeated India in the 2014-15 season.
Kerry O'Keeffe said that Australia's tactics are to target the skipper of the visiting team.
"Rohit Sharma may miss one or two Tests, but he is the captain, and Australia always tries to torpedo the visiting captain. It's been a tactic they've used forever, and I think they'll go very hard at Rohit Sharma," O'Keeffe told Fox Sports.
Rohit had a challenging Test series against New Zealand, scoring just 91 runs at a strike rate of 68.42 over three matches.
After India’s 3-0 series loss, Rohit became the first Indian captain to experience a 3-0 Test series defeat at home. Tom Latham’s New Zealand team delivered an outstanding performance, becoming the first visiting side to secure a 3-0 series victory in India in the longest format.
After losing the series against BlackCaps the upcoming five-Test match series against Australia is important for Rohit Sharma & Co. to seal their spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) final which will take place next year in England. India need to win 4-0 against Australia to confirm their berth for the WTC final without depending on other teams.
Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 schedule
The eagerly awaited Border-Gavaskar series between India and Australia is set to commence on November 22, with the first Test being held in Perth.
The second Test, taking place from December 6 to 10 at Adelaide Oval, will be a thrilling day-night encounter under the lights. Following this, attention will shift to The Gabba in Brisbane, where the third Test is scheduled from December 14 to 18.
The traditional Boxing Day Test at Melbourne’s iconic MCG, running from December 26 to 30, will bring the series to its fourth chapter. Finally, the fifth and concluding Test will be held at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 3 to 7, setting the stage for an exciting finish to the series.
India squad for Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25
Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Virat Kohli, Prasidh Krishna, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar.
