Virat could break another Sachin Tendulkar record: Kohli most successful captain in Australia; Why Named Border-Gavaskar Trophy?; Know everything

Currently, the most talked about thing in the world of cricket is the Border Gavaskar Trophy i.e. BGT. This series of 5 matches is starting from November 22 in Perth, Australia. No.1 Test team Australia and No.2 India face each other.

Although the two teams have been playing each other in Test cricket since 1947, the match was renamed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 1996. Further in the story find out what was the reason behind the name change of the series, what has been the trend of BGT so far and what the performances of both the teams say so far….

Why named after Border-Gavaskar? India and Australia could have played a series with Sachin-Warne, Ponting-Ganguly or Kapil-Waugh, but when the name of the series was changed in 1996, Allan Border from Australia and Sunil Gavaskar from India seemed the most powerful names. Out of the nearly 2,000 players who had played Tests till then, these two were the batsmen who have more than 10,000 Test runs to their name. For this reason, the India-Australia Test series was named the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is named after Australia's Allan Border (left) and India's Sunil Gavaskar (right).

Was there no Test between India and Australia before 1996? Of course, the two teams have been playing Test matches against each other since 1947. The first foreign tour of the Indian team after getting independence from the British was to Australia. In 1996, the 50th year of cricket between the two teams was beginning, to commemorate it, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket Australia (CA) decided to name the series BGT.

Who won the first BGT? BGT started in 1996. For the first time only one Test match was held in Delhi under this trophy. India won by 7 wickets under the captaincy of Sachin Tendulkar. India's wicketkeeper batsman Nayan Mongia, who scored 152 runs, was the player of the match. Since then, 16 BGTs have been played between the two teams. 10 were won by India and 5 by Australia. In 2003–04, the series was also drawn 1–1.

9 BGTs were played in India, with India winning 8 times. Australia won once. Australia hosted BGT 7 times. Australia won this 4 times. India won twice and the series was drawn once. For Australia, winning the BGT has become a matter of self-respect, as the team has not managed to win the series even once since 2014. While India has won 4 consecutive series.

Both won the Test 6-6 at each other's house So far 56 Tests have been played between India and Australia in BGT. 29 Tests were played in India, in which the Indian team won 18 and Australia won 6. 5 Tests were drawn. Out of 27 Tests played in Australia, the home team won 14 and India won only 6. 7 Tests were drawn.

India stopped Australia's victory chariot twice India won the first BGT in 1996. BGT was organized in India for the second time in 1998. This time team India won 2-1. After two consecutive series losses, the third BGT was held in Australia in 1999–2000. This time, the Kangaroos swept the Indian team 3-0.

Then the Australian team under the captaincy of Steve Waugh became the strongest team in the world. Australia has won 15 consecutive Tests against different teams. In 2001, Steve Waugh's team came to India to participate in the fourth BGT. Australia won the first Test in Mumbai. This was the Kangaroos' 16th consecutive win in Test cricket. It was believed that Steve Waugh's team would easily win the series this time too but under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly, the Indian team made a comeback and won the next two matches to win the series as well.

After this, once again in 2007-08, Australia won 16 consecutive Test matches under the leadership of Ricky Ponting. Even then, India broke the streak of consecutive wins.

Arrogance began to be broken by entering Australia In 2018, Team India took a step forward. Under the leadership of Virat Kohli, the team defeated Australia at home in the first Test series in cricket history. This was the first Test series win in Australia by any Asian team.

Although Australia was said to be weak at the time, two of the team's big batsmen, Steve Smith and David Warner, were not part of the team.

India beat Australia 2-1 at home for the second time in a row in 2021. This time the Australian team was at full strength and the Indian team was playing with young players and stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane. India won the last match of the series at the Gabba Stadium in Brisbane, where Australia had not lost since 1988.

If a champion team like Australia loses two consecutive Test series at home, it is certain. Posters of Kohli and Team India, which are constantly published in Australian newspapers, are also saying the same thing.

Australian newspaper 'The West Australian' put a photo of Kohli's practice on its cover page. The headline of the newspaper was, 'King's Comeback'.

Is BGT bigger than the Ashes? BGT is not as old as the Ashes series between Australia and England, but over the years it has become bigger and more of a battle than the Ashes. The Ashes started in 1882, but BGT has won the title of the most challenging Test series in 29 years.

England have beaten Australia in a Test series at home only once in the last 35 years. While India has hurt Australia's self-respect by doing this twice in the last 6 years. So, it is natural for BGT to be bigger than Ashes. Since 2000, South Africa are the only team to have won 3 consecutive Test series in Australia. India now has a chance to make this record in its own name.

Top players and captains of BGT