Having never experienced the feeling of beating India in a Test series, Australia captain Pat Cummins wants to tick off that ‘one big thing’ when his country hosts Rohit Sharma‘s men in a five-match Border-Gavaskar series later in the year. India and Australia’s rivalry is one to cherish. While the Aussies used to dominate the Indians much in the 20th century, the Indians have turned the tables around after the turn of the century.
Till the 20th century, Aussies won 8 of the 15 series contested against India with only three losses. Since the turn of the century, India have won 8 of the 13 series against Australia. Two of those were at Australia’s home in 2018/19 and 2020/21.
“It’s kind of the one big thing that I want to tick off. Particularly winning at home. Most Australians, me included, expect us to do well whenever we play at home,” Australia captain Cummins told AAP.
“We’ve lost the (last) two series against them (in Australia), so this is a big one. We feel like our team’s in a really good place, so we’ve got no reason why we shouldn’t perform really well. I just always expect us to do well against whoever we play. But India, particularly, is a big year, big season,” he added.
India have not dropped a Test series against Australia since losing them in 2014. They have won the last four series by similar margins of 2-1 with two coming at home and two away.
But the Indian team will travel Down Under after a rare Test series loss at home. Their invincible run of 18 consecutive Test series wins at home came to an end with New Zealand beating them. Cummins is sensing the situation, saying that he will look to keep India quiet.
“I think any time a team’s under pressure, it’s not a bad thing if you’re playing against them,” Cummins said. “But they’ve been out here before and performed well. Our job is to try and keep them quiet, see how we go,” he added.
The India vs Australia Test series will be expanded to five Tests for the first time since 1991/92. The Border-Gavaskar series, which was incepted in 1996/97, will have five Tests for the first time under this name.
The series will kick start on November 22 in Perth before the Day-night Test in Adelaide from December 6 onwards. The caravan will then move to Brisbane for the third match from December 14 onwards. Melbourne will be hosting the Boxing Day Test with Sydney hosting the series finale from January 3 onwards.