Border-Gavaskar 2020 Series: 5 Key Player Battles | 5 key player battles to watch out for in the Border-Gavaskar 2020 Series
The Border-Gavaskar series will commence with the Indian team taking on the Tim Paine-led Australian side in their own backyard from December 17 onward. The Aussies will be eager to overturn the defeat that they suffered in the previous leg of this historic rivalry. They are strengthened by the presence of Steve Smith this time around; whose absence was one of the key reasons behind their loss in 2018-19.
On the other hand, the Indians will be missing the services of skipper Kohli for three matches in the series. Rohit Sharma is expected to join the contingent for the last two games whereas doubts continue to loom over David Warner’s fitness. Overall, the unavailability of certain key individuals provide an opportunity to the younger guns to prove their mettle in the topmost echelon of international cricket. In this article, Cricblog looks at five key player battles that will determine the outcome of this contest.
Note: Only players who are available to feature for the entire length of the series are considered in this article
Also read: How will Ishant Sharma’s absence impact India in Australia?
1. Steve Smith vs Ravindra Jadeja
Steve Smith had single-handedly batted India out of the 2014/15 Border-Gavaskar series in Australia as he amassed a century in each of the four matches to record 769 runs in total. He seemed unbeatable on occasions, tiring out the Indian attack with supreme efficiency and ruthlessness. However, it needs to be asserted that Virat Kohli has a much improved bowling lineup at his disposal in 2020 than he had in 2014/15.
But needless to say, the former Australia captain retains the ability to deliver a similar performance and Ravindra Jadeja could possibly prevent him from doing so. It has been widely discussed that Smith’s record against slow left-arm orthodox spin remains one of the very few weaknesses in his overall batting style. One of the Cricviz reports published in August 2019 ahead of the Ashes highlighted that Smith averaged the lowest against left orthodox spin (34.9) as against leg-break (48.77), left pace (65.28), right pace (67.05) and off break (94.07) back then.
These records must have altered a fair bit in the time since but it also highlighted that the batsman’s scoring rate against left arm off-spin was the lowest as compared to the other bowling styles. It is a different matter of fact that Smith completely dominated Jack Leach in the Ashes that followed this report as he racked 101 runs off him at a strike rate of 65.16 and was dismissed merely once by the spinner.
However, Jadeja does boast of a praiseworthy record against Smith. The all-rounder has dismissed him on four occasions in 474 deliveries across two series’, and conceded runs at a strike rate of only 31.86. It might prove to be difficult to try and overpower Smith with pace bowling, howsoever brilliant India’s current arsenal of fast bowlers must be. Maybe, Jadeja can help the visitors exploit perhaps the only chink in Smith’s armour.
2. Mayank Agarwal vs Josh Hazlewood
Mayank Agarwal will have to shoulder significant responsibility at the top of the order with the absence of Rohit and then Kohli in the series. Moreover, his batting partner is yet undecided and Agarwal will have to demonstrate the temperament that he has become renowned for over the course of the coming four games. The player from Karnataka has been in a purple patch of sorts since his induction to the Test side and had a fantastic home leg last year.
Agarwal will have to be wary of the intricate line and length that Jose Hazlewood will test him with at the start of the innings. Being a naturally attacking batsman, it will perhaps be a true test of Agarwal’s character to curb his natural instincts for a while and weather the storm accordingly. He stood up to the challenge in 2018/19 as he faced 67 deliveries from Hazelwood across the Tests at Melbourne and Sydney respectively. The opener scored 27 runs with three boundaries across these deliveries but did not concede his wicket to the strike bowler even once.
He is coming off rather subdued performances in the ODI series and will be eager to perform well in the whites. Hazlewood will be targeting to break the solidity and flair that Agarwal brings to the fore and hence the duel between the duo will be worth keeping an eye out for in the next one month or so.
3. Marnus Labuschagne vs Jasprit Bumrah
Marnus Labuschagne was just a new kid in the block when he was drafted in Australia’s playing XI in the Sydney Test match in early 2019. However, the batsman has developed to become one of the key pillars for the side in the middle-order. Especially in home and familiar conditions, Labuschagne will be a force to reckoned with for the Indian bowling lineup.
Jasprit Bumrah is touted to give the lad a hard time on the pitch. Labuschagne has shown incredible technique and a knack to score big so far. However, Bumrah’s sheer incisiveness, length and pace will be a completely new challenge for the batsman. He has faced merely 28 deliveries from the Indian pacer in the whites, having played 25 dots and scored four runs out of them.
They have come across each other more often in ODIs though. Bumrah has bowled 37 deliveries to the batsman in the 50-over game and the Aussie has notched 33 runs with four boundaries. The Mumbai Indians’ fast bowler has dismissed Labuschagne once in ODIs.
Nevertheless, a full-stretch Test series against a fiery in-form Bumrah will be a provocation like none another for the rising Australian star. He tends to quietly do the job well under Smith’s shadow but the Indians can simply not afford to weigh him down by any stretch of imagination. Certainly, Jasprit Bumrah will be instrumental in working around the threat that Marnus Labuschagne poses to the Indian team.
Also read: 3 key players who must step up for India if they are to win the Test series in Australia
4. Cheteshwar Pujara vs Nathan Lyon
Cheteshwar Pujara had put forward a monumental batting performance in the previous tour to Australia wherein he racked up 521 runs in four matches that included three centuries.
In addition to tackling the express pacers, Pujara worked tenaciously to neutralize the impact of Nathan Lyon. The seasoned off-spinner thrives in Australian pitches by relentlessly pitching the ball on the rough patches of the pitch and complicating matters up for the batsmen. Pujara used his swift footwork to consistently meet Lyon’s deliveries at the bounce and thus reduce the spin that he extracted out of the surface.
Both these players are the typical material to succeed in the longest format of the game. They maintain a terrific, single-headed attitude towards their objectives and hence this match-up can also be termed one where two individuals of a similar mindset come at odds with each other.
Lyon has bowled 929 deliveries in the whites to Pujara and has dismissed him on nine instances. The Indian batsman has also scored 420 runs off the spinner at a strike rate of 45.26 and with 33 boundaries to his name. In the 2018/19 series, Pujara faced 406 deliveries from Lyon but was dismissed merely twice and scored 178 runs at a strike rate of 43.84 and 15 boundaries to his name. The contest between these two behemoths of Test cricket will largely determine the score that the Indian team manages to notch in the four matches.
5. Ajinkya Rahane vs Mitchell Starc
Ajinkya Rahane will have to takeover immense responsibility in the absence of Kohli for the better part of the series. He will be expected to rack up the big scores this time around and not play a supportive role to other batsmen. Mitchell Starc’s lethal left-arm pace will possibly trouble Rahane, though history shows that the Mumbai-based batsman has taken a very offensive stance to Starc’s bowling in the whites so far.
The pacer has bowled 161 deliveries to Rahane in Tests so far, and the Indian batsman has notched 100 runs against him at a strike rate of 62.11 with 11 boundaries and a couple of sixes. The Indian skipper will be in-charge of piling up runs from the middle-order and might often come across Starc when the second new ball must be around the corner. Such a situation will be one where Rahane will have to bail his side out single-handedly, given that a wicket in that stage can trigger a line of dismissals completely derailing the innings.
Starc can deliver some really demanding and energizing spells with the new ball, the ones that infuse a new lease of life in the innings. He has the ability to overawe the batsmen with his skills at any moment of time, in-form or out of form. Such spells need to be dealt with cautiously, given that they have the potential of turning into highly influential phases of the game. Ajinkya Rahane will have to put to use his entire wealth of experience for a positive result for the Indian team.
Written by Tarkesh Jha. Follow Tarkesh on Twitter today.
