Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 | Australia v India 5th Test | Preview and Predictions

Do or die for the Men in Blue

Fighting to keep themselves in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy and also in contention for the World Test Championship Final (WTC), team India exploded in Melbourne which saw them lose a game they could’ve walked away with a draw from and now the Indian team have their backs against the wall and task cut out.

While the WTC Final is not in India’s hands anymore, they still have a chance to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the Men in Blue head to Sydney knowing that anything but a win will not work. Ahead of the fifth and final Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25, here’s our match preview and predictions.

Australia vs India 5th Test | Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 | 05:00 IST, January 03–07

The Indian team have had one major issue throughout the series and the problem still persists going into the fifth Test. The top order batters have given nothing for the middle and lower order to build on as captain Rohit Sharma has looked woefully and as someone who maybe is way past his prime. Sharma’s dip in form is all the more troublesome for the team given that their other star player, Virat Kohli has been struggling once again to the same type of dismissals throughout the series and Kohli’s outside off-stump struggles is quite well known and the Australian bowlers have just abused Kohli in that corridor with Kohli falling prey to that every time. The captain himself, especially, has added pressure on him with his spot in the XI also up for debate.

While Sharma and Kohli have been struggling, Rishabh Pant will also have eyes on him as the explosive wicket-keeper got a lot of flak for throwing his wicket away in both innings in Melbourne and Pant’s aggressive style has come under question and given the failure of the veteran batters, an experienced batter like Pant and even KL Rahul will have added pressure on them. The Indian team moves to a spin-friendly track in Sydney and given their struggles against spin recently is well documented and given that they dropped Shubman Gill to accommodate an extra spinner in Washington Sundar means that unless Gill returns to the XI, the Indian batters will have added responsibility on them to come good. 

With the ball, it’s been all Jasprit Bumrah for India but both Akash Deep and Mohammad Siraj had a good showing and moving to Sydney, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar will also come into play on a spinning track, which should suit the Indian bowlers. Akash Deep has been ruled out of the final Test, meaning the management can go back to Harshit Rana or bring in Prasidh Krishna.

The hosts on the other hand, saw young Sam Konstas take the attack to Jasprit Bumrah on his debut which gave them a much needed solid start at the top of the order and with Steve Smith slowly looking like he’s back to his best, the Indian bowlers had to toil hard. Marnus Labuschange also got back amongst the runs and while the consistent Travis Head failed, lower order contributions from captain Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon helped the hosts turn the match around. Lyon and Cummins turned the game around with the ball as well with Scott Boland, standing in for the injured Josh Hazlewood regularly chipped in with the wickets. At Sydney, Lyon will be the key player for the hosts with the ball while Travis Head, who has a knack of picking up crucial wickets at intervals will also be important to Cummins’ plan. Australia will also be handing yet another debut cap, this time to batter Beau Webster, who is also handy with his oddspin.

At Sydney, where teams generally play two spinners given the nature of the pitch, ideally it should suit India but given their current form, it hosts Australia as the favourites once again and count on Cummins and co. to take the win in Sydney and take the series 3-1.

Fantasy XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Travis Head, KL Rahul, Steve Smith, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon

Venue: Sydney

Winners Prediction: Australia