“It’s time to make amends,” Pat Cummins issues warning to Team India ahead of Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Cummins believes the WTC 2023 final win over India will give them an edge.

By Salman Anjum - 03 Sep, 2024

There is a lot of excitement around Australia’s upcoming Test series against India. The reigning World Test Champions will host India in five Test matches.

India have won the last two Test series Down Under, while they have held onto the coveted Border-Gavaskar Trophy since March 2017.

With three months left for the highly-anticipated series, Australian skipper Pat Cummins has issued a warning to the Indian team, saying that “it’s time to make amends”.

Cummins also believes that World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final win over India will give them an edge.

“The last two series here in Australia, we haven’t been successful, so it’s been a long time. Hopefully, it’s time to make amends,” Cummins told Star Sports.

“You know, we’ve played them plenty of times where they’ve beaten us, but we’ve also had plenty of wins against them as well, which we’ll draw confidence from.

“The most recent Test match was, of course, the World Test Championship in neutral conditions, and we came out on top in that match. It’s always fiercely competitive, and it always feels like it’s 50-50. I’m 10 out of 10 excited for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy,” he added.

The marquee series is slated to get underway on November 22 in Perth and the action will then shift to Adelaide, where both teams will face each other in a Day-Night Test. The last three Tests are set to take place in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney.

Australia’s star batter Steve Smith is also excited for the five-match Test series. “We haven’t beaten India in the last two times they’ve come out here. They’ve played good cricket when we’ve been over in India as well, where we know they’re very, very difficult to beat. So it’s going to be a big summer. It’s going to be an exciting one. And yeah, I’m looking forward to it,” said Smith.

Meanwhile, left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc has likened the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Ashes. He said: “I mean there’s a long history in the Ashes but that Border Gavaskar rivalry, if you like, has just grown from strength to strength over each series and now we see it as a five test match series which is fantastic for not only the rivalry but for the test series as well.”

According to flamboyant batter Glenn Maxwell, the India-Australia series captures the imagination of the cricketing world.

“I think over the last few years, definitely, it feels like the two teams sort of swap places in the rankings quite a bit. Whichever format it is, you will always see these two teams at number one at some stage around the world,” said Maxwell.

“The different contests we’ve had in both countries across all formats certainly provide a lot of highlights for the rest of the world. It’s always must-watch cricket whenever these two teams are playing.”

By Salman Anjum - 03 Sep, 2024

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