Michael Vaughan, former England captain, revealed that ex-India skipper Sourav Ganguly had sent him a text rubbing salt in his wounds after India defeated Australia by 295 runs in the first Test of the BGT 2024 in Perth.
This came after Vaughan had predicted that Australia would win the BGT 2024 by a margin of 3-1 andwouldl reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Sourav Ganguly advised the former England captain not to get ahead of himself. After Ganguly responded to Vaughan's bold statements by warning him not to underestimate India, the ex-India captain put salt to injury even before the Perth Test result was announced.
Ganguly's text arrived on Vaughan's phone just after India was bowled out for 150 in the first innings, having knocked Australia out for 104 and taken a 46-run lead.
India used the lead to their advantage, scoring 487/6 declared in their second innings to defeat Australia in the Test. Australia had to chase down 534 to win, but they could only muster 238, therefore they lost the Perth Test by 238 runs.
Ganguly predicted that the series would be level at 1-1 heading into the third Test in Brisbane. And well, as things stand, the first part of this prediction is dead on right.
Vaughan, in the latest episode of Clube Prairie Fire, revealed that on Day 2 of the Perth Test, he received a cheeky text from Ganguly, which was anything but humble.
"I'll read you something from Sourav, lads. I like humbleness in anyone that comes on the podcast. It's very important that they're very humble. But just to read this text message that he sent me. When did the game start? Friday, right? India got bowled out for 150, and then they got Australia for 104. And this arrived at 12 minutes past 5 on Saturday. 'Hi Michael… My prediction is going well,'" Vaughan said.
Vaughan, still adamant on his stand, refused to change his prediction.
"No, we said 3-1, so the one has happened," added Vaughan.
Meanwhile, Vaughan was very praiseful of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a brilliant 161 and added 201 runs with KL Rahul (77), to wrest the advantage for India. Taking nothing away from the 22-year-old, Vaughan was startled by Australia's approach against the youngster.
"Yashasvi Jaiswal is the best young player in the world. He gets nought and then gets 161 – he played defensively, then left the ball – and was flamboyant at the right time. But I was absolutely staggered that Australia didn't pepper him. Young player, you might as well whack him on the shoulder, and get fielders close in. Just do it. Just pepper him for 40-50 minutes," Vaughan said.
"In the past, a young player comes to play here. You might give him 20 minutes and say, 'Alright, I'm going to go after him'. Brett Lee. Dizzy [Jason Gillespie]. Heck, Steve Waugh would have himself bowled a few bouncers, so I was a little bit surprised to see how tame Australia was in the field. I thought they could be a bit more aggressive,” he added.
The second Test of the series will be played in Adelaide with the pink ball under lights from December 6 onwards.
