The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is one of the most anticipated series. India have been outstanding against Australia, winning the last four series, including two in Australia, however, it won't be easy for the Rohit Sharma-led side this time around. India would head to Australia with a relatively new batting lineup, with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane not part of the squad.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Sarfaraz Khan, and Rishabh Pant will have to play their part but how Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli perform on the tour could well decide the outcome of the series. The veterans though haven't been in great form which is a massive concern for India heading into the series. Despite the lack of runs from the two Indian stalwarts in recent times, Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne is wary of their threat and said the two great players cannot be counted out, especially in big series.
"Rohit and Virat are both class players. World class. As we've all seen so many times in the past, you can never count them out, especially in the biggest moments. We'll obviously look to put pressure on them and hopefully for us they both have a quiet series," said Labuschagne to Hindustan Times.
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The series will be vital for India in terms of the WTC final qualification. India were hot favourites to qualify for the final but the defeat to New Zealand dented their chances. India now face an uphill task of winning a Test series in Australia to keep their chances alive. The team needs to win the series at least by a margin of 3-0 to have a realistic chance of reaching the summit clash.
India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed