Australia Test captain Pat Cummins has sent a stern warning to Rohit Sharma and co ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Test series. Australia has failed to win against India at their own turf in the last two occasion and Cummins feels “It is time to make amends” and says the World Test Championship (WTC) final win over India will also give his team an edge.
“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,” he told Sports Star.
“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.”
Cummins deputy Steve Smith and bowling says he is excitied for the five-match Test series.
“We haven’t beaten India in the last two times they’ve come 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,” said Smith.
Meanwhile, left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc has compared Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Ashes. He said: “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.”
Swashbuckling all-rounder Glenn Maxwell believes the India-Australia series a must-watch tournament for the cricketing world.
“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,” said Maxwell.
“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.”
India and Australia will lock horns in a five-match Test series for the first time since 1991-92 with Perth hosting the first Test from November 22.