New Delhi. Before the Australia tour, the Indian team is surrounded by clouds of worries. Team India has to play its first Test against Australia without captain Rohit Sharma. That’s not all. Some players of the team including Shubman Gill are also injured. But you do not need to worry about the absence of some senior or regular members in the Indian team. The history of the Indian team in Australia is such that injury does not seem to be a concern anymore. Reason- In the year 2020-21, when India won the Border Gavaskar Trophy by defeating Australia at home, many seniors were still missing from the team. Let’s go into a little flashback.
A 4-match Test series was played between India and Australia in 2020-21. India won this series 2-1. The Indian team won the Melbourne Test by 8 wickets and the Brisbane Test by 3 wickets. He achieved the target of 329 runs in Brisbane. Australia had won by 8 wickets in the Adelaide Test. The Sydney Test draw was over.
Kohli played only one test… returned home on parental leave
The Indian team had reached Australia tour in 2020 under the captaincy of Virat Kohli. Virat Kohli played the first Test and after that returned home on parental leave. After this, the remaining three matches were captained by Ajinkya Rahane. This time also Rohit Sharma is not playing the first match due to parental leave. He was expected to join the team in the remaining matches.
Rohit Sharma also played only two test matches
Rohit Sharma also played only two matches during the 2020-21 tour. After this he was out of the team due to injury. However, this did not make much difference to the ‘health’ of Team India. Despite the absence of both Virat and Rohit, India not only won the match but also won the series.
Shami also returned home after 2 matches
If the names of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were missing from the Indian batting line-up, then Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah were not getting support in the bowling attack. Shami played only 2 matches in that series. Bumrah also could not play a match due to injury.
Rishabh Pant had scored the most runs
When India’s greats were leaving the team due to various reasons, the youth took charge. Rishabh Pant had scored 274 runs in 3 matches and became the first wicketkeeper batsman to score a century in Australia. He got good support from senior Cheteshwar Pujara (271), Ajinkya Rahane (268) along with young Shubman Gill (259). Washington Sundar had scored 84 runs in a single match.
Sundar-Natarajan-Shardul had taken charge
Even in bowling, some player or the other kept getting injured. As a result, none of the main bowlers played all four matches. Ashwin and Bumrah played three matches each. Shami could play only two matches. At such a time, young bowlers Washington Sundar, T Natarajan and Shardul Thakur took charge. Shardul had taken 8 wickets after playing one match. Sundar and Natarajan played one match each and took 7 wickets each.
Tags: Border Gavaskar Trophy, India vs Australia, Rishabh Pant, shubman gill, Team india
FIRST PUBLISHED: November 20, 2024, 06:20 IST