Indian cricket fans are nowadays sad for two reasons. Firstly, the much-anticipated Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) is now over, and we have no significant cricket left until the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Secondly, India lost this series badly and failed to retain the trophy. Adding salt to the injury, doors for qualification to the ICC Test Championship in 2025 have also shattered with India’s poor BGT loss against the mighty Australian cricket team.
While cricket fans are sad for obvious reasons, Team India management has a chance now to introspect the reasons behind the poor performance. At times, introspection helps team management enable some necessary changes to the team. So, what are the potential reasons behind India’s poor show in the latest Border Gavaskar Trophy? Let’s sneak a bit into the reasons in the following section.
1. Old Owls Were Not Wise with the Bat
Whenever there is a debacle in a big series, the senior members are often found in their slim patches. This has not been an exception in this case either. The old owls such as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were not wise with their batting performances. Though Virat started the campaign with a stylish hundred, he failed to retain the form in the next few innings.
Virat Kohli’s poor show always hits the team hard since he has been one of the major pillars of the Indian batting lineup for a decade. Things got even worse when Rohit Sharma, the skipper of the Indian Team, failed to add any significant runs under his name. This is probably the last tour to Australia for Skipper Rohit Sharma, and this poor show will definitely leave him and his fans highly disappointed.
A small comparison will show the readers how poor both Virat and Rohit were with their bats in the last edition of BGT. Combined Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins have more runs than the two veteran Indian campaigners, who are often hailed as the lifeline of this Indian team’s batting lineup.
2. Juniors Failed to Step into the Boots of Ro-Virat
Indian cricket has always been known for producing exceptional batters. From Sunil Gavaskar to Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, the legacy of producing exceptional batting genius is continuing. Indian struggles for its bowling are a common sight to the Indian fans. But, the last BGT is an eye-opener for those who believe the Indian batting core is still strong.
Players like Rishab Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal have shown tremendous grit and resilience on the bouncy Australian pitches against the mighty Aussie fast bowling. On the other hand, Nitish Kumar Reddy emerged as a fine talent in this series with both bat and ball. However, barring a few highlighting innings, India’s batting show was below average.
We do not want to be too critical here since most of the junior batters are facing an Aussie pace attack on Australian pitches for the first time. Among the youngsters, Shubhman Gill’s batting show was the poorest. Hailed as the next-generation talent for Indian cricket, Indian fans have high expectations of him, and he failed to live up to the expectations by miles.
3. Search for the Third Seamer Is Still on
While the batting show was on a poorer note, Indian cricket shined bright with its lethal pace bowling attack. A pace attack led by Jaspreet Bumrah has actually saved India from a one-sided test match series against Australia. While the bowling attack emerged on the positive side, one loophole is still to be addressed.
Bumrah and Siraj bowled exceptionally, and the overall bowling performance could be even better if India had a good third-seamer option. India tried Harsheet Rana and Akashdeep for the first four matches as the third seaming options. While both of them looked promising, their performance showed that they were not yet ready for the big stage exposure.
Nitish Reddy warmed his arms to give a few overs to the team as a supportive bowling option. Surprisingly, he emerged as a more reliable option than a third seamer if you collect and compare the bowling figures.
4. Gambhir’s Magical Charm Fades on Test Cricket
Gautam Gambhir is a legend for Indian cricket fans, especially his innings in the ICC World Cup Final in 2011 is still discussed by netizens and Indian cricket fans. Despite having a bright career in international and domestic cricket, Gambhir never justified his talent in red-ball cricket.
Like batsman Gambhir, it seems that coach Gambhir has a poor share of luck in test cricket. Team India under his coaching has performed decently in white-ball cricket. But performance has been notably poor in test cricket. At first, India lost a home test series against New Zealand. Now comes the BGT debacle!
The performance of the Indian cricket team has raised questions about Gambhir’s competence as a coach in test cricket. Though we feel that it is too early to step into a judgment regarding Gambhir’s coaching style and ethics, it is undeniable that he will be under tremendous pressure when India starts the next test cricket campaign.
5. Result Gone for a Toss Due to Missing Intent
In a prestigious test cricket battle against England and Australia, Indian fans expect the Indian players to show more positive and aggressive intent. But the intent was below average in BGT 2024-25. Virat Kohli with his typical animated attitude tried to lift up the team’s spirit and was aggressive to some extent. But it did not help since most players looked shaky and too worried about their personal performances.
The coaching staff also has a big role to play in uplifting the team’s morale. However, inexperience in coaching seems to be a problem that failed to lift the team’s morale. Both Abhishek Nayar and Gambhir have minimal coaching experience. On the other hand, Morney Morckel’s record as a coach of Pakistan was not impressive.
All these issues combined led to India’s poor show in BGT 2024-25. While the performance is poor, we all believe in the talents and skills of the Indian cricketers. Therefore, a comeback is around the corner now. Let’s hope that 2025 will be an exceptionally successful year for the Indian cricket team.
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