Rohit’s boys on the backfoot
After a convincing win in the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25, the India team came crashing to the ground after being humbled in yet another pink-ball Test Down Under.
Rohit Sharma’s boys arrive at Brisbane on the backfoot and need to counter the hosts convincingly if they want to stay alive in the series and also keep themselves in contention for the World Test Championship 2025 final.
Ahead of the third Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 Test, here’s our match preview and predictions.
Australia vs India 3rd Test | Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 | 05:50 IST, December 14–18
Visitors India come to Brisbane with their task cut, they know they need to win and they know they have to step up with the bat. The Men In Blue have been having a tough time with the bat, especially in the first innings. Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul have been getting some runs at the top, but the middle and lower order for India has been a mess. Virat Kohli is still uncertain of where his off-stump is while Rohit Sharma, accommodating Rahul and Jaiswal at the top, decided to move down the order but looked woefully out of place. Rishabh Pant has always had a high-risk high-reward kind-of-game but at a point of time when the senior batters around him are failing, one would expect Pant to take up more responsibility. Shubhman Gill has probably been the most well sorted Indian batter, and although he has not gotten a big score, Gill has looked fluent during his time at the crease and the talented star will be looking to convert his promising starts to a big score. India’s biggest positive with the bat though, has to be Nitish Kumar Reddy, who has been bailing out his team with crucial lower-order contributions and in Reddy, India seems to have found a solid all-rounder.
India’s go-to-man for all occasions, Jasprit Bumrah, has been India’s biggest shining star of the series so far with the pacer delivering every time his team needs him. Mohammed Siraj showed glimpses of excellence in Adelaide and at Gabba, India will hope both Bumrah and Siraj fire on all cylinders.
On the other side, Australia also have a batting problem they need to fix at the earliest. Barring Travis Head, most of their batters have been struggling with their talisman Steve Smith’s form being their biggest reason for worry. Smith, one of the all-time red ball greats, has 19 runs in the opening two Tests, and with Australia having a debutant opener in this series, the hosts will need Smith to step up and shoulder more responsibility. Marnus Labuschange, who was also struggling for a while, finally found some runs in Adelaide and captain Pat Cummins will hope that Head continues his devastating run against the Men in Blue.
Australia will be bolstered by Josh Hazlewood returning to the squad and Hazlewood once again pairs up with Cummins and Mitchell Starc to form one of the deadliest pace-bowling trios in world cricket right now.
There is supposed to be some rain around the days of the Test match, which would mean favourable conditions for the seamers and while the Gabba has been a good ground for the batters to put up some runs, count of the quicks from both sides to have a good game. Australia had an incredible record in Gabba before India broke the Gabba curse a couple of years ago and the hosts also lost to the West Indies earlier this year. While they might come into Gabba with two consecutive defeats at the ground, count on the hosts to bounce back and take the lead of the series.
Fantasy XI: Travis Head, KL Rahul, Steve Smith, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins
Venue: Brisbane
Winners Prediction: Australia
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