The streak has finally ended as India have lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after 10 years. After losing in 2017, 2018/19, 2020/21 and 2023, Australia have finally been successful in ending India’s streak and went on to win the BGT for the first time since 2014/15. The hosts won the fifth and the final Test at Sydney Cricket Ground by six wickets and won the series by 3-1.
With this, India missed the chance to win their third consecutive Test series down under and also failed to qualify for the World Test Championship final for the first time after ending as runners-up in the previous two editions. Despite registering a dominant win in the first Test in Perth, India failed to continue the momentum for the rest of the series and failed to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In the following listicle, we will have a look at three major reasons why India lost the BGT 2024-25.
Why India lost BGT 2024-25?
Poor batting performance
One of the main reasons for India’s series loss down under is their poor performance with the bat. Although players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul and Nitish Kumar Reddy were convincing with the bat, the visitors failed to get a big and crucial partnership in the middle-order throughout the innings. India were bowled out under 200 runs six times in 10 innings down under.
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Failure to get Australian tailenders early
India have been troubled by the tail again in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Despite losing their key batters from top order and middle order, Australia frustrated the Indian bowlers with crucial runs from the lower-order which took the hosts to a big total. During the third Test at Gabba, Australia were 327/6, but still ended up posting 445 in the first innings. On the other hand, the hosts also posted 474 after getting reduced to 299/6 in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test. Apart from that, Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland also put up an frustrating partnership of 61 runs for the 10th wicket in the second innings.
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Senior players failed to step up
One of the main reasons for India’s loss in BGT 2024-25 is poor show with bat from the senior players including the likes of skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Known for his clinical performance with the bat down under over the years, Kohli got a promising start to the series, scoring an unbeaten hundred in the first Test in Perth. However, that was a only good knock Kohli played in the whole series and later failed to score big in the remaining four matches.
Apart from that, after missing the first Test in Perth, Rohit decided to bat down the order in Adelaide and Brisbane but couldn’t do justice with the bat. However, the Indian skipper also promoted him as an opener but still failed to get a good start. After that, Rohit decided to opt out of the final Test in Sydney.
