One of the biggest series in world cricket is almost upon us again: Australia v India. The tourists have claimed famous 2-1 victories in their past two trips, and are the only side to win a Test series in Australia since South Africa in 2016.
Rohit Sharma’s side face the challenge of a five-Test series this winter though, and on the back on a shock 3-0 home series defeat by New Zealand. Here are five talking points that could play a key part in deciding who wins the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which starts at 02:20 GMT on Friday, 22 November.
Australia’s search for Warner’s replacement
When David Warner retired in January, Australia opted to promote Steve Smith from four to opener. An average of 28.50 and just one half-century in eight innings meant he failed to set the world alight, but he felt he “could still do a job there”. However, with all-rounder Cameron Green needing back surgery, the Aussies had a gap in their middle order and they’ve opted to move Smith back to four.
That leaves a hole alongside Usman Khawaja at the top of the order and there have been plenty of questions about who would fill it – including Warner flirting with the idea of a return. Australia have plumped for Queensland’s Nathan McSweeney, who averages 97 in two Sheffield Shield matches this season. Those runs have come at three and four though. He opened in a warm-up game against India A and made 14 and 25. Australia’s batters haven’t had much red-ball exposure either, with Smith and Travis Head playing just one Sheffield Shield game and scoring three and 40 respectively. Marnus Labuschagne and Khawaja fared slightly better – both average 48 in two and three matches respectively – but there are questions about their preparation.
Will India’s batting find form to dominate again?
It might sound obvious when we say that India have scored more runs than Australia in the past two series, but that really was one of the key differences. In the 2018-19 series, India’s average first-innings score of 327 dwarfed Australia’s 253. That gap was reduced to 15 runs (288 to 273) in 2020-21. India’s top six in 2018-19 averaged 37.5, compared to Australia’s 27, but the hosts squeezed that last time. India’s middle order (five to eight) outscored Australia comfortably in both series (34 to 24.9 in 2018-19 and 33.4 to 26 two years later).
However, there are concerns about India’s batting after their series against New Zealand. They only made two scores of 250 or more in that series, and were bowled out for 46, 156 and 121 across the three matches. Rishabh Pant, who has been crucial in their previous wins over Australia, is in form and averaged 43.50 in that series, but captain Rohit Sharma averaged just 15.16 and Virat Kohli 15.5.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (31.66), Shubman Gill (36) and Sarfaraz Khan (28.5) also struggled, as only Pant made more than one half-century in the series.
Kohli and Rohit only average 22.72 and 29.4 in Tests in 2024 and it is hard to see India winning if those numbers don’t rise. Rohit will miss the first Test for the birth of his second child so India will have to find a new partner for Jaiswal at the top of the order. Bowler Jasprit Bumrah will lead India in Rohit’s absence.
Can India’s pacers match Australia again?
Another of the key components in India’s wins has been their pace attack. They’ve built a battery of quicks led by the superb Bumrah. That has made them a formidable side in all conditions, not just at home, where the defeat by New Zealand was their first in 12 years. Bumrah was the joint-leading wicket-taker in the 2018-19 series, claiming 21 at an average of 17. He was ably supported by Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma, as they outperformed the Australia quicks. In that series India’s fast bowlers averaged 23 and conceded 2.64 runs an over, compared to 31.7 and 2.73 by Australia. That did flip in 2020-21 as Bumrah only claimed 11 wickets and Shami was unavailable. India’s pacers averaged 30.9 to Australia’s 26.2. Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep struggled in the recent New Zealand series too, picking up seven wickets, compared to 20 for the Kiwi seamers.
Which of the spinners will come out on top?
This series will have the seventh and eighth-most successful bowlers in Test history, with India’s Ravichandran Ashwin facing Australia’s Nathan Lyon. How the respective batting line-ups hand