Time to overhaul? Is Gautam Gambhir facing the heat? Should Virat and Rohit retire? Was the Perth win just an aberration? What went wrong? Was there something wrong with the team selection?

So many questions after India’s loss to Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, after nearly a decade. This loss, also affected India’s chances of qualifying for the third time in a row to the World Test Championship Final at Lord’s, effectively eliminating them from the Championship.

This series saw India’s newbies gaining outside experience but also exposed the weaknesses of the experienced. As said by experts “India didn’t play bad cricket but failed to seize the crucial moments” which is so true. The losses in the next few matches after the Perth test were due to India failing to capitalise on the important moments in the game.

Let’s look at the matches briefly.

Perth Test – The series began with the first test match being held in Perth. This match missed the presence of India’s regular captain Rohit Sharma due to Paternity leave so Jasprit Bumrah captained the side. Opting to bat, India folded for a mere 150 in the first innings. When Australia came in to bat, Jasprit Bumrah breathed fire with the ball obtaining a five-fer with Australia getting all-out for just 104. In its second essay, India started off with a bang with Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul registering a 201-run opening partnership with Jaiswal scoring a century and Rahul 77. With further contributions from Kohli, Washington Sundar and debutant Nitish Reddy, the Aussies were set a daunting target of 534. Once again, it was Bumrah who broke the back of the Aussies with early wickets and the bowlers too contributed giving India a win by 295 runs.

Adelaide & Gabba Tests -The next was the day-night test which also saw the return of Rohit to the playing XI. This was one test which Australia lost only once in the history of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Once again, opting to bat first, India got all out for 180. Australia, in their first essay, scored 337 with Travis Head giving us a ‘headache’ with his century. They led by 157 runs. India failed with the bat surrendering to Cummins’ fiery bowling registering a five-fer to his name. It left Australia just 19 to get to level the series which they did comfortably, in the end winning by ten wickets.

The Gabba Test was one filled with rain interruptions. In-spite of that, the Baggy Greens managed to score 445 in their first innings with Head giving India a ‘headache’ once again, this time joined by Steve Smith and also Carey contributing down the order. India folded for 260 with major contributions from Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja. Australia scored and declared knowing there is less time left in the test due to numerous rain breaks. India had to chase 275 on the last day but the weather gods didn’t permit and the match ended in a draw. Majority were of the opinion that India was definitely lucky to be saved by the rain or else they would’ve certainly lost the match.

Melbourne Test – The 4^th test was the Boxing Day Test in which India dominated in the previous cycle of the BGT. With the series poised at 1-1, everyone hoped for India to gain the series lead, but not to be this time around. Opting to bat first, Australia scored 474 with valuable contributions from the top-order, the stand-out being Smith’s century and lower-order contributions from Carey and skipper Cummins. India scored 369 on the back of a wonderful century from Nitish Reddy and useful contributions from Jaiswal and Sundar. India once again, gave away a lead of 105 runs. Australia got all-out for 234 thanks to Bumrah’s wonderful five-fer. It left India with 340 runs to get, quite a bit more than what India expected. This time, India surrendered quite meekly by folding for just 155 giving Australia a win by 184 runs. This game saw Nitish Reddy score his maiden century but unfortunately it ended up for a losing cause.

Sydney Test – The Crucial Match in the New Year. India had to win this test in order to stay alive for qualification to the WTC Final and also retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Pressure situation! Rohit Sharma opted to sit out from this test and hence Bumrah became the captain once again. India opted to bat first. Like before in the series, once again India failed in batting just scoring 185. But, with an impressive bowling performance from the bowlers, India got the Baggy Greens all-out for 181.

With a meagre lead, the expectation from India was to set a target of around 200-250 runs for the Baggy Greens. But, except a quickfire 60 from Rishab Pant, the batting order was bamboozled with a six-fer by Scott Boland setting Australia only 162 to get. India made early in-roads but after a point couldn’t do anything without their star bowler and skipper Jasprit Bumrah who didn’t bowl in the second innings due to a back spasm he got in the middle of the first innings. Eventually, India lost the match, series and the chance to qualify for the WTC Final.

As mentioned, India couldn’t capitalise on crucial moments, one good example can be taken from the Melbourne Test. In Australia’s second innings, at one point, India was looking at a target of about 260 runs with majority of the Aussie batters back in the hut. But, during such a time, India dropped 3 crucial catches and were unsuccessful in breaking the last-wicket partnership for a long time, while simultaneously letting them score boundaries eventually setting themselves a target of 320 by the time they got the Aussies all-out. During India’s second innings, at a juncture, India were 112/3 with 7 wickets in hand and two youngsters in the form of Jaiswal and Pant out in the middle steering India towards a draw. Australia’s surprising tactic to start with Head after Tea stunned everyone and that opened the floodgates. As soon as he got Pant, the rest fell like a pack of cards and the match which could’ve been drawn was lost by India.

This series showed India’s over-dependence on Bumrah which eventually led to him getting injured and sitting out during the most crucial match of the series. There was an inconsistent playing XI throughout the series, showing the team’s instability which led to lack of cohesion. The failure of the senior batsmen was also another factor that resulted in the series loss and proved to be a crucial moment in all the matches.

India certainly missed some experienced and important players in this cycle of the BGT who played an important part in India’s win in the previous BGT Cycle. Ajinkya Rahane, who captained the side in the previous cycle and the one who helped India level the series after a humiliating defeat in the first match last time was not selected. Cheteshwar Pujara, the pillar of the Indian test team, who has always stepped up when required was left out too. Another important player’s name one can’t miss is Hanuma Vihari. He has also contributed quite a bit to Indian cricket when he played and not to forget the ‘Great Sydney Robbery’ of the last cycle which happened due to Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin’s dedicated stand in-spite of their injuries which led India to a draw in that match.

Another very notable moment was the retirement of Ravichandran Ashwin after the Gabba Test which certainly compounded India’s woes. It was a very shocking and sad moment for Indian cricket and its fans and his absence was certainly felt.

It may be thought that the names mentioned above are all ‘old’ and cannot play anymore but that’s not true. They are the ones who have bailed India out of trouble on numerous occasions be it in India or outside India. The team needs their experience, especially in SENA Countries and should not sideline them just because of their age and in order to quickly get in the youngsters. Eventually, youngsters will take over but the Indian team must not be in a hurry to start off with the youngsters leaving the experienced ones out. Other than exposure to the different matches against teams in different places and the team management, the youngsters will definitely learn a lot with the experienced players in the dressing room.

This series loss and the non-qualification to the Final is a bitter pill to swallow for Indian cricket and its fans. This loss underscores the importance of consistency, adaptability and strategic planning in Test Cricket. This series serves as a reminder for India to reassess team dynamics and develop a cohesive strategy to ensure a more robust performance in future international contests.