After a 43-day gap, Team India's cricket season will resume on September 19 when it hosts Bangladesh for a two-Test series, followed by three more against New Zealand in October. However, it's India's tour of Australia for a five-Test series which people have their eyes on. Holding the potential to be one of the greatest Border-Gavaskar Trophy of all time, India will be seeking a hat-trick of wins Down Under – an achievement unheard of – while the Aussies will be desperate to reclaim the BGT for the first time since 2017.

For the first time since the 1992 tour, India will play five Tests in Australia, spread across Perth, Adelaide (day-night Test), Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, an assignment that requires India to undergo a strenuous practice before embarking on one of their toughest Test tours. But as always, India risk the danger of going into the series undercooked as they will be playing nothing more than a warm-up match against the Australian Prime Minister's XI. Usually, this would have made a little more sense but the fact that the game has been trimmed by a day has Sunil Gavaskar questioning BCCI's lack of preparation for a Test series as challenging as in Australia.

"The news that the regular match for touring teams against the Australian Prime Minister’s XI has been reduced to a 2-day game is a disappointing one. By all means, rest the seniors and let them not even travel to Canberra for the game but give the newer younger players a proper first-class game rather than a 2-day game which will be neither here nor there. After all, the team are going there to play cricket and not to take rest," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-day.

Gavaskar's plea

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is still three months away, but it has already started to capture the imagination of fans and cricket personalities alike. Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, in an early prediction, tipped the Aussies to win the series 3-1, while Ravi Shastri reckons a hat-trick for India is not deniable. Given what India have achieved the last two times they were in Australia, winning the 2018/19 tour 2-1 and then repeating it in 2020/21, a battle dubbed as arguably one of the greatest Test series of all time.

Three years ago, India went into the Test series better prepared, playing three ODIs, two T20Is and a practice match against Australia A, which may have ended in a draw but had given India enough match time to acclimatise to the conditions. With a few youngsters expected to be part of the squad, Gavaskar has urged the board to tweak the format of the practice game to boost India's chances.

"The Australians are thirsting for revenge and the Indians will have to be razor sharp to get a hat-trick of series wins there. There's still time to change it to a 3-day game and give the younger inexperienced players a better chance to succeed against the World Test Champions. C'mon BCCI, you can do it," Gavaskar insisted.

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