Pat Cummins. (Photo Source: Daniel Pockett – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
The hype and excitement around upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy seems unmatched and talking around the same, Australia skipper Pat Cummins has put forward his views. In the last two outings in Australia, India dominated the show and Cummins understands it very well how they need to gear up this time.
The Australia skipper added how BGT stands to be fiercely competitive series and it’s always the case of 50-50 as far as coming out on top is concerned. However, Cummins added that they would draw confidence from 2023 WTC final where Australia ended up on the winning side in neutral conditons.
Speaking exclusively to Star Sports, Australian test captain Pat Cummins shared his thoughts on the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy with India. He said, “The last two series here in Australia, we haven’t been successful, so it’s been a long time. Hopefully, it’s time to make amends. You know, we’ve played them plenty of times where they’ve beaten us, but we’ve also had plenty of wins against them as well, which we’ll draw confidence from. The most recent Test match was, of course, the World Test Championship in neutral conditions, and we came out on top in that match. It’s always fiercely competitive, and it always feels like it’s 50-50. I’m 10 out of 10 excited for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.”
Australia cricketer Steve Smith gave a prelude on the Border Gavaskar Trophy which is scheduled to be held in November. He said, “Yeah, very excited. You know, it’s going to be a great series. You know, India have been playing outstanding cricket. We’ve been playing really good cricket the last couple of years. You know, we haven’t beaten India in the last two times they’ve come out here. Obviously got a terrific side, very well-balanced team, all bases covered. So, you know, they’ve played really good cricket out here. They’ve played good cricket when we’ve been over in India as well, where we know they’re very, very difficult to beat. So it’s going to be a big summer. It’s going to be an exciting one. And yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”
Mitchell Starc spoke on the importance of the Border-Gavaskar Rivalry. He said, “For Australian cricket, you’ve got the Ashes and then you’ve got the Border Gavaskar Trophy in there. I mean there’s a long history in the Ashes but that Border Gavaskar rivalry, if you like, has just grown from strength to strength over each series and now we see it as a five test match series which is fantastic for not only the rivalry but for the test series as well. Whether it’s the calibre of player, the calibre of matches that we see as fans and as cricketers just continues to grow strength on strength each series and now India obviously winning a number of series in a row, it’s created even a bigger rivalry between the two countries. I mean both teams are well known to one another, we play each other very often across the formats so I’m sure it’ll be another exciting series but one I think that both experienced sides will showcase some fantastic cricket.”
Glenn Maxwell shared his thoughts on the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy with India. He said, “I think over the last few years, definitely, it feels like the two teams sort of swap places in the rankings quite a bit. Whichever format it is, you will always see these two teams at number one at some stage around the world. The different contests we’ve had in both countries across all formats certainly provide a lot of highlights for the rest of the world. It’s always must-watch cricket whenever these two teams are playing.”
