'Australia Have Upper Hand But…': Dinesh Karthik Makes Prediction For Border-Gavaskar Trophy

The Indian men’s cricket team, which is currently engaged in a two-match Test series against Bangladesh, is all set to travel to Australia later this year to take part in a five-match Test series. The 2024-25 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will start on November 22, with the first match scheduled to take place in Perth. Adelaide Oval will host the day-night Test from December 6, and the last three matches will be played in Brisbane (December 14-18), Melbourne (December 26-30), and Sydney (January 3-7), respectively.

India has won the last two editions of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy played on Australian soil, and under Rohit Sharma’s leadership, India will look to complete the hat-trick this time around. Ahead of the start of the much-awaited series, former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has made his predictions. According to him, the Aussies will have the upper hand in the five-match series, and it will be very hard for India to win the third series in a row.

“I can’t tell the exact score line, but I do think Australia have the upper hand. It’s going to be very hard for India to beat them on Australian shores for the third time on the bounce. It’s no easy task. But if India do it, it will be one of the greatest things the Indian cricket team has ever achieved, no doubt about it,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz’s HeyCB with DK show.

Australia hasn’t won a Test series against India since getting the better of the Virat Kohli-led side in the 2014-15 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In the last Test series played between the two teams in India (February-March 2023), the Rohit Sharma-led side defeated Australia in the first two matches inside three days each to take a 2-0 lead. The Aussies won the third match, but they could only manage to draw the fourth match played at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad and, as a result, lost the series by a 1-2 margin.

However, they managed to take revenge for the series defeat against India by getting the better of Rohit Sharma & Co. in the 2023 World Test Championship final, which was played at the Oval from June 9 to 13. In the one-off match, Pat Cummins’ men hammered India by 210 runs.