Australia vs India Test Series – Who will win the Border-Gavaskar Series?
Australia and India will renew hostilities in November, with another stunning five-match series in store between the two great nations.
The first Test will be played in late-November, with Tests two, three and four taking place in December. The fifth and final Test will then be played at the SCG in early-January.
There is a lot of cricket to come between the sides, and LiveCricket are rightly predicting a lot of intrigue with both bat and ball.
First and foremost, the exploits of supposed ‘Big Four’ batsmen Steve Smith and Virat Kohli will be very interesting. Smith averages 56.97 in 195 innings with 9685 runs. Meanwhile, Kohli boasts an average of 49.16 with 8848 runs in 191 innings.
The duo have not been at their best in 2024. Smith averages just 30.43 in 2024 with 213 runs in five matches. Meanwhile, Kohli has 58 runs in two innings at 29.00.
The averages of the pair this year are far below what they would expect of themselves. Indeed, where Joe Root has excelled in 2024 with his run-scoring, Smith and Kohli have struggled.
With both now 35-years-old, is this a sign of their depreciation in the Test arena? Only time will tell whether the pair can hit top gear once again in the longest format and they could both be key to the outcome of the series.
As far as bowling options go, where do you start? For the tourists, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja could feature, with the five bowlers currently out in Bangladesh.
For Australia, the options may feature Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Michell Marsh, captain Pat Cummins and occasional bowling from Marnus Labuschagne.
Both sides are blessed with some superb pace options, which is vital when playing on the hard and dry conditions in Australia. Meanwhile, the battle between Lyon, Jadeja and Ashwin will be incredibly interesting.
On his own patch, Lyon will fancy his chances of winning this battle, but the two travelling spinners are world class and will create pressure and take wickets against their opponents.
As far as the head-to-head between the pair goes, Australia have won 45 Tests, India have 32 wins and there have been 29 draws. Meanwhile their most recent Test clash came in the World Test Championship final back in June of 2023.
In that clash, Australia ran out comfortable winners at The Oval as they secured a 209-run win. This made it three without a win for India in Tests against Australia, who have won twice in that time and one match ending as a draw.
As the number one men’s Test team in the world, Australia know they should be winning Test series at home. However, this does not make things any easier against an Indian side that sits in second in the world rankings.
Indeed, the travelling side will know they have all of the tools to hurt the Aussies and claim a series triumph.
Ultimately, this series will likely come down to the finest of margins. Winning individual sessions could prove the difference, while the exploits of Kohli and Smith could prove telling in what could be a truly epic Test series clash.