Mahela Jayawardene, the legendary Sri Lankan cricketer, has made a bold prediction for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy match between Australia and hosts India. After thrashing the West Indies and South Africa at home, Australia is targeting India in the second cycle of the Test Championship.
Rivals India and Australia currently hold the top two positions in the Men’s Test Rankings. India and Australia are also leading the race to qualify for the Test Championship final, which will be held in June. Former Sri Lanka captain Mahinda Jayawardene revealed his prediction for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia in an interview with popular sports presenter Sanjana Ganesan. Jayawardene predicted a ‘tough’ 2-1 series win for the Australian team in India.
“I think it’s always going to be a great series. I think Indian conditions and how the Australian batsmen tackle that, they do have a really good bowling unit and how do the Indian batsmen tackle that … it depends on how each team starts the series and who’s got that momentum. But it will be fascinating. It’s difficult to predict, but being a Sri Lankan, I’m hoping that Australia can go all the way. Probably a 2-1 win for Australia, but it’s going to be a tough one,” Jayawardena said.
First BGT Test to be played in Nagpur
The visitors will be without paceman Josh Hazlewood, who will miss the first Test against India. Mitchell Starc, the veteran pacer, has also been ruled out of the series opener due to injury. The last time Australia won a Test series on Indian soil was in 2004. On Thursday, the Men from Down Under will face hosts India at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.
The team led by Rohit Sharma has already reached Nagpur ahead of the first Test on the 9th of February. On the other hand, Pat Cummins’ team is in Bangalore preparing for the all-important series.
Here is how Twitter reacted to Mahela Jayawardene’s comments
Given India's recent performance, I'd give Australia a chance too.
— Gentleman (@ABHISINGH_IND) February 6, 2023
Given India's recent performance, I'd give Australia a chance too.
— Gentleman (@ABHISINGH_IND) February 6, 2023
Obviously, two-three of our best players(in form) are missing and most of Australians are in form plus they have couple of run machines… So, if d wickets r reasonable then it's going to be a big challenge for Team India…
— Anjan Kr Gogoi (@AnjanKrGogoi2) February 6, 2023
Though I respect Mahela’s judgement ,still I believe there will no draw in this series .Kohli and gill scoring heavily.
— Confused MangoMan (@finalymetoo) February 6, 2023
Isko nikalo MUMBAI Indians se..
— Amrendra Kumar (@amrendraa77) February 6, 2023
now game on ?off course we support our team,England automatically supports india because opposition Australia??and others can express wt ever they want these are all statements bring up heat and makes series interesting between two top times… whole Cricket world watching.?
— Vamsi (@Kr17Vamsi) February 6, 2023
As usual, the whole world has an opinion on Indian cricket at all times. In the good old days, the whole world had an opinion on English cricket since County cricket was a popular breadwinner. Now, the IPL has ensured India becomes the cynosure.
— Prabhanjan Badami (@PABadami) February 6, 2023
Travis, Warner, Smith, labuschagne, Head, green, Alex carey are in their Career best form. It's not impossible
— Shahadat hosen Hridoy (@ShahadathosenH2) February 6, 2023
It's late for Mahela to jump onto the already full Aussie win band wagon! But he would be interested in criticizing the Indian pitches bandwagon.
— Vinod Kumar (@theNorth3rnWolf) February 6, 2023
I'm not sure if Australia will be able to pull off a win against India, but I'm sure Mahela Jayawardene knows what he's talking about!
— Abhishek Upadhyay (@Abhishek1o11) February 6, 2023
