Australia 'strong favourites' in BGT 2024-25 against 'brittle' India: Tim Paine

Former captain Tim Paine has predicted that Australia will have the upper hand against India in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, slated to begin in Perth from November 22. The series holds extreme importance to both teams as they are currently competing to seal their spot in the final of the third edition of the World Test Championship. On top of that, Australia will be more determined to do well as they haven’t beaten India in a Test series since the 2014-15 season.

Paine, meanwhile, reminded the current state of Indian cricket as they lost back-to-back Test matches against New Zealand, resulting in the first series defeat at home in 12 years. The former keeper-batter noted that India’s batting unit has struggled in recent times and he believes that in the absence of Mohammed Shami, it will be difficult for the Rohit Sharma-led side to pose the same kind of threat that they did in the last two times India visited Australia.

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“Australia are going to start pretty strong favourites. I think India have not been playing pretty well, their batting looks a little brittle. So, Australia's batting does not look amazing in terms of output, but we know they have got the quality. Shami is going to be a huge difference; Bumrah, there is so much on his shoulders. If he gets hurt, then it's curtains for me,” Paine said in The Grade Cricketer podcast.

He further explained that New Zealand are a good squad but not enough to beat India at home and that made him wonder about India’s preparations for the Australia tour. The 39-year-old noted that India made too many mistakes and that resulted in New Zealand picking up back-to-back wins.

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“They (New Zealand) are not very good. Is that harsh? Unbelievable performance, no doubt about that. But that makes me worry a little about India, totally honest. Coming to Australia, without Mohammed Shami as well, but New Zealand have always been an amazing team at scrapping and getting the best out of themselves if you make a mistake. And I think, India made far too many mistakes in the series,” he added.