Photo Credit: Instagram Photo of @usman_khawajy
As the Border-Gavaskar Trophy approaches, veteran opener Usman Khawaja has noted that the Indian team takes significant pleasure in defeating Australia across all formats, reflecting on a rivalry that has intensified in recent years.
India won the last two Border-Gavaskar Trophy series 2-1, in 2018/19 and 2020/21, both in Australia. The Indian team will seek a third consecutive series win when the five-match Test tour begins on November 22 in Perth, with additional matches scheduled in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney.
“We’re world number one, world number two teams really over the last two years. We were there at the last World Test Championship together. The rivalry has always been huge. I take it as a sign of respect and I know it that Indians love beating Australia in any sort of form of cricket.”
“And the tradition that Australia has had over so many years as being one of the dominating teams in world cricket has staked that reputation. I think, yeah, for Indians it’s always been the case to beat Australia. And more recently, you know, since the rise of India and IPL and everything else that happened, it’s the same way with Australia against India. And particularly since India’s beaten Australia in Australia the last two times they’ve come out of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. It just means a little bit more,” said Khawaja.
Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, who played in Australia’s 2-0 victory over India in the 2014/15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series at home, has expressed his eagerness to reclaim the trophy for the hosts.
“Yeah Probably sums it up there, toughest rivalry. It’s always a great challenge playing against India, and they are so used to the conditions out here, they love it. You know in Australia the challenge is huge. They’re batting their top order, no matter who’s playing, is unbelievable, their top six or seven. I played them in my debut series, obviously, and we got the win, that might have been the last time. A lot of the same players are still playing, I think I got Virat that game.”
“So a lot of our players, I guess, haven’t beaten India in a test series. The guys were playing, such as Travis Head, Cameron Green, guys like that. So, yeah, huge summer for us coming up and hopefully get that trophy back,” he said.
Australia’s seam-bowling all-rounder Mitchell Marsh views the upcoming series as an opportunity to advance in the longer format.
“I think it’s just the cricket that’s been played between the two teams. If you look at the history, the recent history, we’ve won stuff, they’ve won stuff. And I think that when it’s back and forth like that, it builds that rivalry within yourselves.”
“You know there’s great friendships in the Indian team with our team, so there’s no hatred. But it’s a great on field rivalry, both teams want to win. And Australia versus India, it’s another opportunity to grow the game of cricket. Not that cricket needs growing in India, but worldwide. People tune into these big series, ” Marsh added.
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