Australia have a chance to beat India this time around: Jason Gillespie

Pakistan red-ball head coach Jason Gillespie backed Australia to beat India in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, slated to begin on November 22. Australia have lost the last four editions of the tournament, two out of which, were played on their home turf. Despite so, Gillespie is confident that the experienced bowling unit of the hosts will be too hot to handle for the Rohit Sharma-led side and expects them to seal the series.

The trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood has been phenomenal for Australia in red-ball cricket. They have recently brought a lot of success, including winning the World Test Championship final in 2023 but winning a series against India is still on the checklist. Hazlewood and Starc have been part of squads that won a Test series against India but Cummins has never.

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Gillespie backed the trio to win it this time around. On top of that, the experience of spin wizard Nathan Lyon will also be vital. He has represented the national team in 129 Test matches and picked up 530 wickets and has tremendous numbers against India. Gillespie believes that the quartet is the best bowlers Australia can put out and expects Australia to turn things around this time around.

“I will be backing them to do the job. They are the best bowlers in the country. I think their records speak for themselves. This quartet is the best possible bowling attack that Australia can put out in the park. They are red-hot, they are playing some good Test cricket for a while now. Even though they have beaten Australia in recent times, I think Australia have a chance to beat India this time around," Gillespie told Fox Cricket.

Steve Smith might have slot back in the middle order to bat at 4: Gillespie

After David Warner’s retirement, Steve Smith was promoted to open the innings alongside Usman Khawaja but the cricketer failed to deliver. Apart from the unbeaten 91-run knock against West Indies at the Gabba, the former Australia captain has nothing much to show for and keeping that in mind, Gillespie noted that he is likely to be slotted back at number four in the India series.

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“Players like David Warner are pretty tough to replace. I didn’t mind the idea of Steve Smith going up in the order. I have a feeling that he might have slot back in the middle order to bat at 4,” Gillespie said.