New Delhi, Aug 29 (IANS) Former Australia men’s head coach John Buchanan believes the Pat Cummins-led side is the initial favourite for him to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, citing the current lack of preparation time for visiting teams ahead of a tour.
India and Australia will be squaring off in the all-important five-match series at Perth, Adelaide (pink-ball game), Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney from November 22 to January 7, 2025. Australia have not won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since 2014/15, as India prevailed over them in the 2018/19 and 2020/21 series respectively.
“I never give predictions, but I will say Australia is favourite at the start of the series. When you look around world cricket these days, it’s very difficult to tour other countries. One of the reasons for that is that travelling teams no longer have that preparation of playing two-three games before the first Test to get used to conditions,” said Buchanan, who was in Mumbai to launch the multi-sports foundation program ‘Ready Steady Go Kids’ with CP Goenka International School in partnership with Sports Gurukul.
For this year, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been expanded to five Test matches for the first time since the 1991/92 series. The build-up to the all-important series will see India play five Tests at home against Bangladesh and New Zealand.
The India ‘A’ team is also slated to play two four-day matches in Mackay and Brisbane before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy begins. Australia, on the other hand, will see its players prioritising playing first-class matches via the Sheffield Shield.
Buchanan, the two-time men’s ODI World Cup winning coach, thinks Australia have a slight edge over India due to its batting line-up. “It’s going to be a classic series. Five Tests, which is one more Test than what we had previously. It does make a difference as by the time the teams reach Sydney, they would have played presumably four hard Test matches prior to that in a short period of time.”
“It’s going to test their resolve physically and mentally. The teams are pretty evenly matches with strong bowling line-ups. Personally, I still favour the Australian batting lineup a little bit at this point,” he concluded.
–IANS
nr/bsk/
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by TodayIndia.news and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of TodayIndia.news We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, TodayIndia.news takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
For any legal details or query please visit original source link given with news or click on Go to Source.
Our translation service aims to offer the most accurate translation possible and we rarely experience any issues with news post. However, as the translation is carried out by third part tool there is a possibility for error to cause the occasional inaccuracy. We therefore require you to accept this disclaimer before confirming any translation news with us.
If you are not willing to accept this disclaimer then we recommend reading news post in its original language.
