A Review Of The Border Gavaskar Trophy
Border–Gavaskar Trophy draws its name from two famous cricketers: Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar. As the name implies, the series is played between Australia and India. The first edition of the series took place from 1996-1997. The series is hosted in either India or Australia. Typically, the two nations alternate hosting from year to year.
This is a four-match series that pits the two nations against each other. Some of the most notable players that have participated in the tournament include Sachin Tendulkar, the tournament’s most successful batsmen, and Anil Kumble, the most successful bowler. Damien Martyn, Ravindra Jadeja, and Steve Smith are a few of the players that have been named player of the year.
There has long been a healthy rivalry between India and Australia. Australia failed to win against India in a test match series for decades. Until Australia beat India in the 2004–05, they had not beaten India in a test match in more than 30 years. India is famous for being hard to beat when they play at home, which made this series even more intense.
Although this is a very competitive series, both India and Australia have managed to win the series on a number of occasions. In fact, the two teams are close to having an equal number of wins. Many cricket fans say that this series is second only to the Ashes series in intensity.
Even though India and Australia have regularly played test matches against each other since 1947, the teams did not start playing for the Border–Gavaskar Trophy until 1996. The first tournament was intended to be a one-off test. India won the series by 7 wickets.
Initially, India dominated this tournament. However, Australia managed to defeat them for the first time in four test series in 2004. Because Australia played so well, India was already defeated by the time the final match was played. In spite of this, India was victorious in the last match. Australia took home the trophy, and Damien Martyn was declared man of the series.
The 2007–08 is considered to be highly controversial by fans. Throughout the series, the umpires repeatedly made bad calls. Australian players were also accused of poor sportsmanship. Even though Australia won the trophy, their win was contested. The Indian team threatened to pull out of the tour, but the International Cricket Council intervened.
Since then, the tour has gone much more smoothly, with both India and Australia bringing home the trophy. The first game of the 2014 test series was dedicated to player Phillip Hughes, who passed away after he was struck by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield game. Australia managed to win the story this year.
In the 2018–19 series, Australia was at a disadvantage because some of their top batsmen, like Steve Smith, Cameron Bancroft, and David Werner were ineligible to play because of a ball-tampering scandal. India managed to defeat Australia and bring home the trophy. Cheteshwar Pujara gave an impressive performance and was declared the player of the series.
