Former Australian stars always predict the outcome of the series before the start of the Ashes. With that habit, Ricky Ponting sat down with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the five-Test series starting today—Australia would win the series 3-1.
Although not the Ashes, the excitement of this series is no less than the Ashes. Australia is the number one team in Test ranking. Number two is India. What could be better than a battle of 'one' and 'two' for an exciting series!
According to Ponting's predictions, India have been left far behind. India will draw one test, win one. India will lose the remaining three Tests. Former Indian cricketer Ravi Shastri also hopes that the series will be settled with a margin of 3-1. But he did not name the winning team. Said, any team can win in this interval.
Whichever team wins, the hosts are ahead in the pre-series. Australia is going to start the series after defeating New Zealand in New Zealand soil. And India will play in Australia after losing the first Test series against New Zealand at home. So Australia will start with the relief of being mentally ahead.
Indian captain Jasprit Bumrah, however, is not thinking too much about it. Regular captain Rohit Sharma is not playing the first Test in Perth as his wife gave birth to their second child. In his absence, Bumrah will come down to toss with Pat Cummins today. Earlier in the press conference, in response to a question, Bumra said about going to start a new series, 'win or lose, you have to start from zero. That is the beauty of cricket. Even after winning the World Cup (2024 T20), I didn't think that I would win all the next series easily – that's how I see it. We are all disappointed to lose the series like that (to New Zealand). But I did not come to Australia with any pressure on my shoulders. I have come to play with a different team with a positive attitude.
India expects a different result in a different series. Australia also expects to win. Australia won the Test Championship last year by defeating India. India won the ODI World Cup. Ashes series also in possession of 'Chai Bhasmadhar' Australia. Despite this success, Australia regrets not being able to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India for a decade. During this period, Australia played bilateral series with India four times, could not win even once. Now Pat Cummins wants to get rid of that regret. The Australian captain said, 'I don't think half the members of the team have won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. So winning this series is the last goal for us. Cummins added, 'I've done well in almost every other challenge in recent years; We stand tall. To do that in another Australian summer would be a fulfilling achievement.'
