"India cannot beat Australia 4-0 in the Test series" - Sunil Gavaskar calls for Rohit Sharma's men to prioritize winning 2024-25 BGT over WTC final

Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar called on Rohit Sharma's men to focus on winning the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia by any scoreline rather than worrying about the World Test Championship (WTC) final qualification. Team India suffered a shocking 0-3 home Test series whitewash to New Zealand to jepordize their hope of qualifying for a third consecutive WTC final.

The Asian side will now have to beat Australia by a margin of 4-0 or better in the five-match series to control their WTC final qualification destiny.

Speaking on India Today a day after India's embarassing whitewash to New Zealand, Gavaskar responded to the question of beating Australia 4-0 and qualifying for the WTC final by saying:

"No, I don't. I actually think that India cannot beat Australia 4-0 in the in the Test series. I'd be over the moon, if they do that. But 4-0? India can win 3-1, 4-0 is... I don't want talk about the World Test Championship Final. Now just focus on trying to win the series in Australia. Never mind whether you win 1-0,2-0,3-0, 3-1,2-1. But go and win. Because that is how all of us Indian cricket fans are going to be back to feeling good again."

India finished in the top two of the 2021 and 2023 WTC standings but lost in the final to New Zealand and Australia on both occasions.

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"I don't think announcing the team earlier was was an issue at all" - Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar feels India did not err by naming their squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the halfway mark of the New Zealand series.

India's squad for the Australia Tests were announced on the night of Day 2 (October 25) of the second New Zealand Test.

"I don't think that there would have been too many changes, so I don't think, you know, announcing the team earlier was was an issue at all. I don't think that was it. No, I don't think there would have been any other players from outside who have not been selected, who would have made a case for them to be included," said Gavaskar.

He added:

"You've already seen Abhimanyu Easwaran was batting so well, who got 4-5 hundreds. He is in the Test team, in Australia and I think that the selection committee actually knew who from the outside were putting pressure to be in the team, and they have included them."

The first Test of the highly anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be played in Perth, starting November 22. India have not lost a Test series to Australia since the 2014-15 tour down under.