Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023: Five Indian players to look out for

Jagruti Panda: The Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series marks one of the fierce and competitive rivalry between India and Australia in the world of cricket. Whenever the two teams lock horns with each other, the stakes are quite high. The last time when India and Australia were involved in a Test series, India registered a historic 2-1 Test series victory in an away test series . It was a memorable victory in many ways as India was devoid of its regular players either due to injuries or personal commitments and they had to essentially field an inexperienced squad.

This time around, Australia will be touring India for a 4-match Test series, which will commence on 9th February 2023. The bilateral contest is a very significant one as it’s being touted as a virtual World Test Championship Final as India and Australia will be once again playing the finale of the WTC.  In this article, we take a look at five Indian players to watch out for in this series:

Virat Kohli

It’s a known fact in the world of cricket who is Virat Kohli’s favourite opponent team. Virat Kohli has a great home and overseas record against Australia. He has a commendable average of 48.06 against the Aussies in Test cricket and has scored 7 hundreds in 20 matches. Kohli might not be in the best of form in Test cricket recently but he will be hopeful to return to his consistent scoring ways against his favourite opponent.

Ravindra Jadeja

Jadeja, who has been out of action since August 2022 due to a knee injury, will be keen to make a strong comeback in the upcoming BGT series. Absence of Rishabh Pant, who is recuperating from a horrific car accident, further strengthens left-hander Jadeja’s importance in the team and his batting form will be vital for the stability of the middle order. He is equally important for his bowling skills as well as enigmatic fielding. He has an impressive all-round record against Australia, with 387 runs in 16 innings and has picked 63 wickets in 22 innings against the mighty Aussies.

Shubman Gill

What a time Shubman Gill is having in his career right now. He would be eager to carry on with the same momentum in test cricket. He scored 91 runs in the historic Gabba win and has an average of 51.08 against Australia. He will feel confident enough to score healthy against the mighty Aussies, and add more feathers to his illustrious cap.

Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer is paving his way into test cricket with his sense of awareness of the situation of the game coupled with mature knocks. He made instrumental contributions against Bangladesh while chasing the target and will be looking forward to capitalising on opportunities he is getting. He will be coming into this series with a recent good form in Test and a healthy average of 56.72.

KS Bharat

In the absence of flamboyant and fearless Rishabh Pant, KS Bharat will need to fill in big shoes. It won’t be easy to replicate the heroics of Pant in tests but being a part of the squad for a while will be a huge learning curve for the youngster.

In 86 first-class matches, Bharat has amassed 4707-runs at an average of 37.95 and a strike rate of 59.80. He has nine hundreds and 25 half-centuries to his name.