Feature image source– Ani News
Australia is set to host India for a five-match Border Gavaskar Trophy, starting from November 22, in Perth’s Optus Stadium. The series will then move to Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
As they gear up to welcome India for the series, they have announced their 13-man squad for the first Test which includes 5 batters, 2 wicketkeepers, an all-rounder in Mitch Marsh, Nathan Lon as the lone specialized spinner and four seamer.
Let us take a look at the players India needs to watch out for, starting from the first Test in Perth.
Nathan McSweeney
The 25-year-old Queenslander got his maiden call-up for the national team for the India series and is likely to open the innings with Usman Khawaja asSteve Smith will go back to his number 4 spot where he has had humungous amount of success in Tests.
McSweeney led Australia A in the recently concluded two unofficial Test wins against India A and 166 runs in 4 innings including a 88* in the fourth innings of the first game. He has also scored 291 runs for South Australia in the ongoing Sheffield Shield in just two matches which includes 2 centuries.
Alex Carey
Another South Australian to watch in the series would be the wicketkeeper, Alex Carey. After a poor year in 2023, he has shown his determination in 2024 and has found his mojo back, scoring some important runs for both Australia and South Australia. He is also the current highest run scorer in the ongoing Sheffield Shield with 452 runs in just 3 matches, averaging 90.40 with two centuries and a fifty.
Steve Smith
This may come across as one of the obvious names who could do well in the series but Smith will be returning to his favored batting position of number 4 where he has scored 5,966 runs at a brilliant average of 61.5 in 111 innings. Since David Warner’s retirement, the New South Wales batter had taken up a new challenge as an opener but couldn’t really replicate his performances there, scoring only 171 runs in 8 innings.
With him returning to his position and just under 350 runs to go for his 10,000 runs, he would come to this series as a man on a mission. The 35-year-old currently averages 65.87 against India with 2042 runs in 19 matches including 9 hundreds and 5 fifties.
Mitchell Marsh
In all likeliness, Mitchell Marsh will be getting games against India as an all rounder after Cameron Green being ruled out of the series. After making his comeback to the Test side in 2023 for the first time since 2019, Marsh has averaged 47 with the bat in 18 innings and scored 1056 runs to revive his red-ball career.
With the ball, he hasn’t bowled a lot but with Green out, he will have to shoulder the responsibility as the fourth seamer in the side alongside captain, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood.
Mitchell Starc
Another obvious name in the list but given that Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood have been pretty consistent with the red-cherry, it will be very important from Australia’s point of view that Mitchell Starc comes good with the new ball in hand.
In the last two series against India at home, he hasn’t particularly managed to set the stage on fire with just 13 wickets in 7 innings in 2018/19 and 11 wickets in 8 innings in 2020/21 while averaging 34.5 and 40.7 respectively. Starc doing well would be a great news for Australia to regain the BGT that they haven’t won since 2014/15. His performances with the bat could also come handy as he can bat really well for someone who comes at 9.
Also, with Scott Boland in the mix, he would also feel some pressure to keep his spot which might help him to with some extra motivation to do well against the arch-rivals in Tests.
