Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25: Rating all India players based on their performances

Australia handed India an embarrassing 3-1 defeat in the 2024-25 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The visitors arrived Down Under following a 3-0 defeat to New Zealand at home, which put them in a complicated state as to cement their place in the World Test Championship finale, the Rohit Sharma-led side had to Australia 4-0 in the five-match series.

The captain missed the opening game of the series in Perth for the birth of his second child but that didn’t damp the spirit of the Indian team, which defeated the hosts by 295 runs. Youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal and senior batter Virat Kohli registered a century each, while ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah led by example, clinching eight wickets and was adjudged Player of the Match.

Nothing has gone in India’s favour since. They didn’t look prepared for the Pink Ball challenge, as Australia bagged a 10-wicket win in Adelaide. The third Test at Gabba ended in a draw after rain played spoilsport. With the series being locked level at 1-1, India still had the opportunity to win or at least, level the series and bring back the trophy to the sub-continent.

They lost by 184 runs at Melbourne in the fourth Test and in the fifth, the Pat Cummins-led side handed them a six-wicket defeat. With that, the Kangaroos managed to win their first Border-Gavaskar Trophy in almost a decade.

Indian players, particularly batters, looked miserable throughout the series. Rohit, despite being the captain was dropped at one stage and others failed to leave a significant mark. It turned out to be Bumrah vs Australia at one stage, and with him getting ruled out of the second innings of the Sydney Test, things became easy for Australia as they comfortably sealed the series.

Here’s rating of all Indian players' performances in BGT 2024-25

1. Yashasvi Jaiswal - 8/10

It was Yashasvi Jaiswal’s first tour to Australia and the 23-year-old did reasonably well and managed to finish the series as India’s leading run-scorer. He started the series with a duck as the Mumbai batter failed to deal with Mitchell Starc but Jaiswal learned it quickly and made 161 in the second innings in Perth. He was fantastic in the Melbourne Test as well scoring 82 and 84 runs respectively. Jaiswal finished the series with 391 runs at an average of 43.44, which is great but there’s room to get better.

2. KL Rahul - 6/10\

KL Rahul was expected to warm the bench when his name was announced for the series. Rohit was announced to miss the first Test, and with Abhimanyu Easwaran in the squad, it was expected that the Bengal cricketer would debut. However, Rahul proved his value and moved ahead in the pecking order. He opened with Jaiswal in Perth and made 77 runs in the second innings. It helped the cricketer retain his spot even when Rohit returned.

However, he failed to make a mark in Adelaide, but he hit 84 runs at Gabba, which ended in a draw. In Melbourne, he batted at three and made 24 and 0, while in Sydney 32-year-old scored 4 and 3 respectively. Rahul showed promise early on but failed to live up to the expectations. He ended up scoring 276 runs in five matches, which is not good, especially given that he has experience and batted at the top of the order.

3. Virat Kohli - 3/10

What could have been and what it turned out to be. Virat Kohli had all the experience and talent that was required for him to succeed in what arguably was his last Test tour to Australia. He was the first Indian cricketer to arrive in the country and started training and was in good spirits. In Perth, he struggled in the first innings but scored a terrific ton in the second, which gave him plenty of confidence. 

With him scoring runs and India winning, it gave the fans hope but it turned out to be a nightmare. Since then, Kohli has got out to the outside off-stamp delivery seven out of eight times. He was initially taking time to settle down and repeated the same mistake time and again, which was not acceptable, given his experience. Australian bowlers kept bowling at the same length and it turned out to be a matter of time before Kohli nicked one. He ended up scoring 190 runs in five matches at an average of 23.75 and with that, there have been talks of him retiring from the longest format.

4. Rishabh Pant - 4.5/10

Rishabh Pant was expected to be India’s one of the best if not the best batter in the Australia series. He was phenomenal when the team last toured Down Under and Pant was anticipated to live up to the potential in the five-match series as well. However, that didn’t happen. The keeper-batter registered only one half-century and ended up scoring 255 runs in five matches at an average of 28.33.

Pant also made the headlines for Sunil Gavaskar’s famous ‘Stupid, Stupid, Stupid’ comment during the fourth Test at Melbourne. The 27-year-old gifted his wicket to Scott Boland while attempting to play a reverse scoop. He failed to time it on the previous ball as well but yet, but Pant tried to repeat it and in time, the ball hit the top edge and went straight to Nathan Lyon. He tried to redeem his mistake in the three innings but nothing could save India from back-to-back defeats.