All eyes in the cricketing world are now firmly set on the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy series between India and Australia. The five-match grueling contest is set to take place in the backdrop of the World Test Championship (WTC) final, which will be held in June next year to decide the ultimate Test team. Both India and Australia are in the running for a spot in the WTC final and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will take them a step closer.

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Former Australia player takes a dig at Virat Kohli’s form

Ahead of the BGT 2024-25 opener in Perth on November 22, former Australian leg-spinner Kerry O’Keeffe has taken a brutal dig at veteran India batter Virat Kohli. O’Keeffe believes that Kohli has become slightly weaker than the last time he toured Australia for a Test series, citing his poor form in the longest format. However, O’Keeffe’s concerns are not misplaced, as Kohli has scored just two Test centuries in the last five years and has averaged below 30.

Kerry O’Keeffe also warned Indian captain Rohit Sharma to be prepared for a challenging time from the Australian players, as it has been a longstanding tactic of the Australian team to target the visiting captain. O’Keeffe highlighted that the Australian team has a history of putting pressure on the opposing captain, trying to unsettle them and gain an advantage.

“Rohit Sharma may miss one or two Tests, but he is the captain, and Australia always tries to torpedo the visiting captain. It’s been a tactic they’ve used forever, and I think they’ll go very hard at Rohit Sharma,” Kerry O’Keeffe told Fox Sports.

“Kohli, who has worried them (Australia) over the years, what a stunning player he’s been; but in sport, if you sense that the king of the jungle is slightly weaker, you poke a bit of cheek at him,” he added.

“I’m fascinated to see what Virat Kohli ends up with at the end of the summer. It could be the decisive point in the whole summer. If he has an absolutely blazing series, India could win,” O’Keeffe said.

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India vs Australia: Squads for Border-Gavaskar Trophy

India’s squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.

Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed

Australia’s squad: (first Test only) Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc