Last Updated on 4 years by Charbel Coorey
5 Best Debut Performances in Border-Gavaskar Series | Looking back at the best debut performances in Border-Gavaskar Test matches
Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj will join Cameron Green as Test debutants in the current Border-Gavaskar series. Making one’s way into the international arena in the toughest of circumstances is not the ideal start that any young player would desire for.
Most individuals prefer facing rather easier opponents in their first match, which allows them to get their eye in and gradually build confidence before heading towards the tougher challenges ahead. However, some cricketers have managed to create quite an impact whilst debuting in the Border-Gavaskar series over the last 25 years. Cricblog tries to go down the memory lane and elaborate on five such historically memorable performances.
1. Michael Clarke
Former Australian skipper Michael Clarke made his debut in the whites during Australia’s tour to India in 2004/05.
Moreover, Clarke put forth a testament of his sheer class and skillset straightaway. Batting in the middle-order, the Aussie scored 151 runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium with a strike rate of 60.89 in his very first Test innings. His impeccable technique against spinners held him in good stead against the Indian attack throughout the course of the series.
Clarke went on to amass scores of 91 and 73 in the two innings of the third match at Vidarbha to ensure that Ricky Ponting’s men secured a historical series victory on Indian soil. Overall, Clarke scored 400 runs in four matches at an average of 57.14. However, his most remarkable outing from the series might be in the fourth game at Wankhede.
Rolling over his arm, Clarke delivered an extraordinary spell of 6.2-0-9-6 as he dismissed the likes of Rahul Dravid, Mohammed Kaif, Dinesh Karthik and blew away the Indian lower-order in the second innings of the match. This was certainly the ‘all-round’ debut that Michael Clarke must have set his sights on.
2. Jason Krejza
Jason Krejza didn’t don the Baggy Green for long, but he surely made a wonderful start to his career. The off-spinner made his test debut at Vidarbha in the fourth match of the 2009 Border-Gavaskar series. He was right on the money from the start, scalping Dravid’s dismissal in the veteran’s second delivery of the first innings.
The spinner followed that up with a brilliant rampage, taking eight wickets in the innings as he dismissed every single batsman except Murali Vijay and Sachin Tendulkar. However, it wasn’t an eight-wicket haul that provided no breathing space to the Indian batsmen as Krejza as the likes of Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni scored half-centuries along with Tendulkar’s 109 to take India to 441.
Krejza returned in the second innings to take four more wickets, and was by far the only Aussie bowler who looked incisive and threatening enough to stop the home team’s run-feast. India won the game by 172 runs but Krejza’s 12-wicket haul in his first match in whites is surely an unforgettable feat.
3. Shikhar Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan had to undergo the tumultuous tenure of domestic cricket for a long period of time before he got his first national team call-up. But, boy did he make that count?
India was already cruising along the 2012-13 Border Gavaskar series as Clarke had led the Aussies to India. Having won the first two matches, the team must have already been staring towards a complete whitewash and Dhawan ensured that it happened through his stroke-filled, flamboyant debut innings at Mohali.
Australia had notched up an impressive 408 in the first innings but Dhawan carried out an onslaught with his knock of 187 runs in merely 174 deliveries that included a massive 33 boundaries along with two sixes. He spared no mercy for any of the bowlers, taking them all to cleaners and propelling India to take an impressive 91 runs’ lead in the first innings.
Unfortunately, he picked up a minor injury during the course of the innings and didn’t feature either in the second innings or the fourth Test. However, Dhawan’s ferociously dominating innings had sealed India’s authority over the series and hence an Aussie comeback was wiped out of equation.
4. Josh Hazlewood
Josh Hazlewood burst into the international scene with his incredibly disciplined fast-bowling in the second test at Brisbane during India’s tour to Australia in 2014/15. The Virat Kohli-led side had fought tooth and nail for a victory in the first game and despite losing the encounter, headed to the next contest with head high in confidence.
However, Hazlewood debuted in the same game tore apart the Indian batting order with his fantastic ability to hit the top of off stump persistently.
The Brisbane track offered a significant amount of bounce and Hazlewood capitalized on the same to notch a five-wicket haul in his very first outing in test cricket. Four of his dismissals in that innings was caught by wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, displaying his ability to put the batsmen into two minds by hitting the accurate line-length regularly.
More importantly, Hazlewood had secured the prized scalps of the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Dhoni along with Ravichandran Ashwin; thus effectively breaking the back of the Indian batting lineup. He took a total of 12 wickets in three matches in that series, playing a key role in Australia’s 2-0 overall victory. Needless to say, the pacer hasn’t looked back since then.
5. Mayank Agarwal
It requires nerves of steel for any newbie to play his first international Test match in front of a hostile Melbourne Cricket Ground crowd on Boxing Day.
However, Mayank Agarwal took his first steps in the longest format of the game for India in such circumstances and excelled at the challenge. With the series in line, India completely changed the opening pair and Agarwal partnered Hanuma Vihari at the crease in front of the Aussie pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
Known to be an attacking strokeplayer, Agarwal weathered the storm patiently and steered his way to a commendable, gritty knock of 76 runs in 161 deliveries in his first Test innings. He followed that up with 42 runs in the second innings and then bettered the record by notching 77 runs in 112 deliveries in the first innings in Sydney. Agarwal was absolutely instrumental in the team registering a victory and a draw in these two matches.
He held on to his wicket through a solid start and later opened the arms and didn’t deter from bagging boundaries as per the delivery. The player from Karnataka has been honed through the rigours of domestic cricket and all that bore fruition as he lifted the Border-Gavaskar trophy along with the team in the Australian land.
Written by Tarkesh Jha. Follow Tarkesh on Twitter today.
