Team India needed only a draw in Melbourne and a win at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) and complete a hat-trick of series wins in Australia. However, things did not go according to plan for Rohit Sharma and boys. Despite several attempts, India lost the SCG Test by 6 wickets and almost a decade later Australia regained the coveted trophy.
Australia's last Border-Gavaskar Trophy win came in 2014, when they won the four-match home series 2–0. Since then, India and Australia have played five series, with India winning four. Today's win is Australia's first BGT Series win since 2014. India had previously won two consecutive series in Australia in 2018 under the leadership of Virat Kohli and in 2020 under the captaincy of Ajinkya Rahane.
There are many reasons behind this series loss, ranging from the heavy workload on Bumrah to the outpouring of chatter inside the dressing room. Let's find out what are the reasons, due to which India lost the BGT trophy after 10 years…
Find out from the first graphic what results were seen in this series…
Now know the reasons behind the series loss…
1. Most reliant on Bumrah, took his toll in the last Test Barring Jasprit Bumrah, rest of India's bowlers have performed very averagely in this five-match Test series. Mohammad Siraj, Washington Sundar and Akash Deep have disappointed the most. Mohammad Siraj may have taken 16 wickets in this series, but he also gave away 503 runs. In the entire series, only Jasprit Bumrah carried the burden of the Indian team on his shoulders. Due to heavy workload, he was unable to bowl in the second innings of the Sydney Test. In the end, Team India had to bear the consequences. Jasprit Bumrah has taken the most wickets in this Border Gavaskar Test series with 32 wickets.
2. There was an uproar in the Indian dressing room During this Test series against Australia, the news regarding the upheaval in the Indian dressing room has increased the controversies. Midway through the tour, India's legendary spin bowler Ravichandran Ashwin retired and returned to India. It is said that Ravichandran Ashwin was not happy with the behavior of the Indian team management. Some reports claimed that a personal conflict between Indian team head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma spoiled the atmosphere in the dressing room. Despite being the captain, Rohit Sharma withdrew from the playing-11 during the fifth Test match played in Sydney. He later revealed in an interview with the broadcaster that he dropped out on his own due to poor form.
3. Could not get answers to questions from Steve Smith and Travis Head Steve Smith and Travis Head played a big role in Australia winning the Test series against India. Travis Head has scored the highest 448 runs in this Border Gavaskar Test series. Travis Head has scored 2 centuries and 1 half-century during this period. While Steve Smith has scored 314 runs in this series. Meanwhile, Steve Smith has scored 2 centuries. Steve Smith and Travis Head have played a major role in their team winning the Border Gavaskar Trophy by scoring centuries on crucial occasions in this series. The Indian team failed to dismiss both these batsmen. In that too, especially how to get Travis Head out, Team India's management did not have the answer.
4. There was no batsman like Pujara in the team, which ultimately rocked the team The number-3 player has been sorely missed in this Australian tour. India had two walls earlier at No.3, which to break would have been like chewing on iron beans for the Australian bowlers. Rahul Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara. Both these batsmen have batted against Australia in Australia very patiently and keeping wickets. This time, the Indian team has especially felt the lack of Pujara.
The 36-year-old Pujara played a key role in the last two Australia tours. He scored the highest 521 runs in seven innings in the 2018 tour. He was awarded Player of the Series for this performance. He also scored 271 runs in the 2020/21 tour. Pujara is remembered for his role in the Gabba Test, where he played 211 balls to lead India to victory. Adopting a defensive approach, Pujara has proved to be a source of trouble for the Australian bowlers over the past few years. For this reason, it is also called 'The Wall' of Team India. Australia's veteran fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, while talking to the media earlier, also expressed his happiness that he will not bowl against Pujara this time. He felt sorry for this. Then if there is such a fear for Cheteshwar Pujara among the Australian bowlers, then the question is why the Indian selectors did not choose Pujara for this tour of Australia?
5. Bad batting is the biggest reason for defeat The biggest reason behind India's loss in the Test series against Australia has been its poor batting. Batters like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant have proved to be huge flops. India has suffered from poor batting throughout the Test series. The worst performance was from India's top batsman and captain Rohit Sharma. Rohit Sharma scored only 31 runs in 5 Test innings in this tour. Along with this, Virat Kohli has also proved to be a villain for Team India. Virat Kohli has scored 190 runs at a poor average of 23.75 in 9 innings of this Test series.
You may be surprised to know, but Rohit Sharma has a total of 31 runs in 3 matches in this series, which is less than Akash Deep who played 2 matches and Jasprit Bumrah who played 5 matches. Akash Deep has scored 38 runs and Bumrah has scored 42 runs. This is a very shameful record. Because Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah are proper bowlers.
Also, Rohit Sharma's total runs are one less than Jasprit Bumrah's total wickets. Means Rohit's total is 31 runs. While Bumrah has taken a total of 32 wickets in this entire series.
6. Lack of aggression on the field India is a team known for fighting on every front. But at certain moments in this series, their lack of aggression was evident. Be it in their approach with the bat or their fielding, India seemed to lack the aggression needed to put pressure on the Australian team. Both in terms of body language and strategy, it is necessary to do so against Australia, but India did not show aggression at times during the series. Due to which India fell behind.
related to BGT…
Border-Gavaskar Trophy Goes to Border Country: 10 Years of India Losing BGT Series, Team India's Humiliating Defeat; Bad luck for the team without Bumrah
The Indian team has lost against Australia by 6 wickets in the Sydney Test. With this defeat, the Indian team has faced a 3-1 defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Australia has defeated India in this series after 10 years. Earlier, Kangaroo team won the series in 2014-15 season. …
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
