India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and Australia skipper Pat Cummins were both among the star performers in BGT and thus rightfully received their nominations. South Africa pacer Dane Paterson, who played a key role in the Proteas’ victories over Sri Lanka and Pakistan, was also nominated for the award.

Bumrah claimed a highly impressive 22 scalps in Test matches during December. He rattled the Australian batters whenever he got the chance to do so and was undoubtedly India’s best player throughout the series. He was also awarded with the Player of the Series award for his sensational bowling performances.

On the other hand, Cummins was a standout performer with both the bat and the ball in the series against India and massively helped in guiding his team to the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Cummins showcased his fine form by claiming 17 wickets across 3 Tests against India in December at an impressive average of 17.64. The Australia skipper also played important knocks of 49 and 41 in the Melbourne Test.

Finally, Paterson played a crucial role in South Africa securing their place in the WTC final with victories over Sri Lanka and Pakistan. His figures of 5/71 against the Lankan Lions and 5/61 against the Men in Green played a key role in the Proteas’ triumphs.

The post Jasprit Bumrah nominated for ICC Player of the Month award, to compete against THESE cricketers appeared first on Cricket Country.

Since his decision to opt out from the Sydney Test, there have been rumours about his retirement, even though he claimed that he is not finished yet, and that he is going nowhere. However, the BCCI and the chief selector Ajit Agarkar are not giving any thought to this decision by the Indian skipper.

According to a report by Hindustan Times, new BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia is all ready to sit with the Indian team management, along with chief selector Ajit Agarkar and review the performance in the BGT. The future of Rohit Sharma in Tests will also be something to be discussed about, and they are not paying attention to the interview where the 37-year-old declared that he isn’t going anywhere.

The final call on Rohit Sharma’s future rests only on Ajit Agarkar. The report also revealed that Rohit Sharma dropped himself from the final Test in order to have one final chance to qualify for the WTC 2025 final.

“Rohit was waiting to see if India could find an escape route to the WTC final. Now, it’s really up to him whether to continue to fight for a spot. But the decision will be down to Ajit Agarkar and his selection committee,” a BCCI official, on request of anonymity told Hindustan Times

Rohit Sharma’s total of 31 runs from 5 innings, means that he scored at an average of 6.20, which is the worst by a touring captain in Australia. In the last 8 Test matches, Rohit Sharma has scored 164 runs at an average of just over 10.

The post Rohit Sharma to Retire soon? Ajit Agarkar to make MASSIVE call on the decision: Report appeared first on Cricket Country.

Following these heavily poor batting performances, Rohit was criticized by several former cricketers and also by the media. He also came under fire for his leadership skills. Following the 3-1 series defeat against Australia, India lost all chances to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final which is set to played later this year at Lord’s.

Lad highlighted that Rohit isn’t the only player in the Indian team who is currently struggling to score runs. He added that Rohit still has the aspiration to win both the ODI World Cup and the WTC that is why he only retired from the T20I format.

“I think Rohit has only two goals – first to win the World Test Championship and second to win the ODI World Cup. If he wanted he could have retired from all formats (after T20 World Cup title) but he only retired from T20 cricket. He is not the only cricketer who was struggling to score runs. He should play one or two domestic games to prepare for Test matches,” Lad told IANS.

“Because of T20 cricket, the mindset of batters has changed. He is a technically sound cricketer and against England last year he was scoring good runs. If we win, people call Rohit the best captain but when we lose people say he doesn’t know captaincy,” Lad added.

Rohit’s next assignment will come in the form of the 3-match ODI series against England which will b hosted by India before the Men in Blue gear up for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy which is set to commence from February 19.

The post ‘Not the only one struggling to score…’: Rohit Sharma’s childhood coach takes sly dig on Virat Kohli appeared first on Cricket Country.

Gavaskar believes that the Indian players should make themselves available at all costs unless there is a medical emergency and also advised the selectors to only pick the players who are fully committed to the side.

“I think the next 8–10 days are crucial for Indian cricket to take a good, honest look at itself. Most importantly, the star culture has to end. Total commitment to Indian cricket is non-negotiable. Players must make themselves available every single time unless there’s a genuine medical emergency. If someone isn’t fully committed, they shouldn’t be considered for selection,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

Gavaskar also said that it is high time that BCCI put their foot down in certain matters and stop pampering the Indian cricketers.

“We don’t need players who are partly here and partly elsewhere. It’s time to stop pampering anyone. The recent results have been disappointing—we should have been in the World Test Championship final but didn’t make it,” Gavaskar said.

“The cricket board needs to stop acting like admirers and put their foot down. They must tell the players that Indian cricket comes first. It’s either a full commitment to Indian cricket or other priorities—you can’t have it both ways. If Indian cricket is your priority, only then should you be selected,” Gavaskar added.

The post ‘Star culture has to end’: Sunil Gavaskar gives MASSIVE statement on Indian cricket appeared first on Cricket Country.

India began the series on a high by triumphing in the first Test in Perth, however ended up losing momentum and went on to lose 3 out of the next 4 matches to lose the series by 3-1. This marked Australia’s first Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph in a decade, their last win came in 2014-15.

Jaiswal played all 5 matches of the series and scored a total of 391 runs at a strike rate of 53.42 and an average of 43.44. Following the series defeat, the 23-year-old took to Instagram and said that the Indian team will come back stronger.

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A post shared by Yashasvi Jaiswal (@yashasvijaiswal28)

“Learnt a lot in Australia… Unfortunately the result wasn’t what we had hoped for but we’ll be back stronger. Your support means everything,” Jaiswal wrote in his Instagram post.

With a defeat in the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar series in Sydney, India not only lost the series but also ended up losing any chance of making it to the World Test Championship (WTC) final which is set to be played later this year at Lord’s. It will be South Africa and Australia, who will battle it out to decide the best Test team in the world.

The post ‘We’ll be back stronger’: Yashasvi Jaiswal puts out fiery post following defeat in Australia Tests appeared first on Cricket Country.

“Well, if you look at the numbers, they are damning. We saw it in this Test. It was very selfless of him to opt out of the Test. I saw in that interview, very well-spoken. There’s no doubt he has a future after he is done playing cricket in stand-up comedy because his humor was very good,” Katich told the broadcasters.

As India lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after a decade, the team is out of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 final race. The next Test assignment for India is in England, where they will play a five-match Test series. Rohit might wish to go out and play, but might not do well against England pacers.

“Only he knows whether he has the hunger and drive at 37 to go again. England is not going to be an easy series. England are on their way up. They have some good young quicks coming through. Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse are doing well. I dare say that will be a tough tour if he chooses to go on it and the Indian selectors pick him, first and foremost. Those numbers are not for pretty reading. Test cricket isn’t a place for 37-year-olds at the top of the order. History suggests that, and only Rohit Sharma knows whether he has got the hunger to go on,” Katich added.

Opt Out? Rested? Dropped?
All questions answered! #RohitSharma gets candid about the reason behind his SCG Test absence.

📹 EXCLUSIVE: Watch his full interview on Star Sports YouTube channel. #AUSvINDOnStar 👉 5th Test, Day 3 | SUN, 5th Jan, 5 AM | #BorderGavaskarTrophy pic.twitter.com/4C4HuGLZex

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) January 4, 2025

Rohit Sharma had scored 31 runs from five innings on the tour of Australia before he decided to ‘opt out’ for the fifth and final Test in Sydney. The 37-year-old has played seven Tests in England, and has scored 524 runs at an average of 40.30. He also has one century and two half-centuries to his name.

The post ‘Test cricket isn’t a place for…’: Former Australian opener taunts Rohit Sharma to become a Comedian appeared first on Cricket Country.

Kaif has a feeling that everything will be forgotten and the criticism will stop when India will beat Pakistan in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025 match on February 23. He even stated that changes need to be done at domestic level, especially to the pitches which would help the batters prepare for the seam conditions overseas.

“On 23rd February India will earn a lot of praise by beating Pakistan (in Champions Trophy) and everyone will say we are a champion team in white-ball cricket. But if India want to team the World Test Championship then we will have to make a Test match team, will have to learn to play on seaming tracks. The truth is that we are just white-ball bullies. We are lagging too far behind. If we have to win WTC, then players will have to play domestic cricket on turning tracks, will have to practice on seaming tracks, otherwise we will not be able to win,” Kaif said in a video he posted on X.

Virat Kohli did not simply put the blame of players skipping Ranji Trophy, but he put the blame on the schedule on the events. He stated that the players decide to rest between series and big tournaments, then go on to represent their respective states in Ranji Trophy.

“India lost 1-3, and I think this is a wake-up call, because now we have to pay our attention towards Test cricket. It’s not just Gautam Gambhir who is at fault. All players get the chance to play Ranji Trophy, but it gets tiresome for the players and they prefer rest over playing Ranji Trophy. They don’t play Ranji Trophy, they don’t play practice matches then how will they become better players? It’s tough to play on turning tracks in India and tougher to play on seaming tracks in Australia and South Africa. So if you don’t practice well, WTC will keep eluding you. What has happened, it has happened for the good and now Team India needs to work hard in Test cricket,” he added.

Before the home season began last year, a lot of Indian players came up to play Duleep Trophy. However, senior players missed the face-offs, which caused them facing a lot of criticism. India is yet to win a World Test Championship (WTC) final. A series whitewash to New Zealand, and a failure to retain BGT title caused them getting knocked out of the WTC race.

The post ‘India will earn lot of…’: Former Indian cricketer rants after India got knocked out of WTC Final race appeared first on Cricket Country.

One of the main reasons why the Men in Blue slumped to the series defeat was star player Virat Kohli’s flop show with the bat in almost all the 5 matches.

While analyzing India’s defeat, former cricketer Irfan Pathan minced no words and brutally criticized Kohli, highlighting his disappointing numbers with the bat while questioning his place in the team. He also said that a youngster can contribute the same number of runs that Virat is currently giving to the team.

“In 2024, in the first innings, where the match is set, Virat Kohli only averages 15. Over the last 5 years, he doesn’t even average 30. Does the Indian team deserve this from a senior player? Instead of this, give a youngster consistent rope, even he can give an average of 25-30. It’s not about an individual, it’s about the team,” Pathan said on Star Sports.

Pathan believes that the ‘superstar culture’ within the Indian team needs to be brought to an end and wants team culture to prevail. He also questioned why Kohli hasn’t played domestic cricket in a long time, whereas even an all-time great like Sachin Tendulkar did when he was out of form.

“We need to end superstar culture, we need team culture. You need to improve yourself and improve the Indian team. There were matches before this series, too, and they had an opportunity to play domestic cricket, but they didn’t. We need to change that culture,” Pathan said.

“When was the last time Virat Kohli played domestic cricket? It has been more than a decade. Even Sachin Tendulkar has played domestic cricket more recently, and he has retired,” Pathan added.

“We are not degrading Virat Kohli. He has scored a lot of runs and played superbly for India, but you are repeating the same mistake again and again. Sunny sir (Sunil Gavaskar) has pointed it out, and he is here at the ground. How long does it take to come to Sunny sir and talk about that mistake? It takes hard work to rectify that mistake, and I didn’t see any of that,” Pathan further said.

The post ‘You need to improve yourself’: Ex-India star gives BRUTAL reminder to Virat Kohli amid retirement rumours appeared first on Cricket Country.

“I know there have been some rumours. I’m not surprised. When there’s smoke, there’s fire. I’ve been part of dressing rooms where it’s been hostile. Especially when you’re away from home, you’re missing your family and you’re not playing the best cricket of your career,” De Villiers said regarding the reports of breakage within the dressing room.

“The dressing room is crucial, especially away from home. It’s easier at home. I have no doubt that the Indian team dressing room might have lost that a little bit over the last weeks in Australia. When you start losing faith in each other, you might as well sit on the sides and hand over the trophy. I don’t have facts with regards to the Indian dressing room. I’ll wait for facts to see who’s been niggling with who!” he added.

Though India’s dream to enter the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 final race has been broken, South African team will play their first ever final. They will be facing the defending champions Australia at the iconic Lord’s stadium in June.

The post ‘Might…hand over the trophy…’: AB de Villiers shares his Honest opinion about Rumours of Splitting within Indian dressing room appeared first on Cricket Country.

India had set a total target of 162 for Australia, which might have been a tricky situation for Australians if the stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah had been in a position to bowl. However, he faced back pain, which led him to leave the ground on Day 2 and not participate on 3rd Day of the match.

Bumrah was awarded as the Player of the Series honour, which was because his milestone of being the highest wicket-taker in the series, claiming 32 wickets, but this was hardly a compensation for the messy team performance by the Indian players.

Prasidh Krishna (3/65), and Mohammed Siraj (1/69) were not of help to Bumrah, and despite multiple crucial wickets, bowled more than enough bad deliveries for the hosts to win the match in just 27 overs.

Scott Boland (6/45) and Pat Cummins (3/44) cleaned off India’s lower-order for justt 157 runs. If we remove the 61-run knock of Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 22-run knock, the rest of the whole team collectively scored just 72 runs.

Brief Scores:

India’s 1st innings: 185
Australia’s 1st innings: 181
India’s 2nd innings: 157
Australia’s 2nd innings: 162

The post Australia ruthlessly beat India 3-1 in Border-Gavaskar Trophy and secured their spot in the World Test Championship Final appeared first on Cricket Country.