Sunil Gavaskar's brutal backlash to Ricky Ponting's bold '3-1' BGT prediction with David Warner reminder

Controversy and mind games have already begun several months ahead of this year's Border-Gavaskar Trophy, as Australia prepares to host India in a 5-match Test series starting in November. Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar has responded to bold predictions from figures in the Australian cricket fraternity by predicting a third consecutive series win for the Indians Down Under.

In his column for Mid-Day, Gavaskar predicted that India would achieve the historic feat of beating the Australians in three consecutive series on their home soil.

“My prediction is a 3-1 win for India,” wrote Gavaskar, after whom the famous series is partly named. “With their early batting problems exacerbated following the retirement of David Warner and the middle order also a little shaky, the Aussies are once again ripe for defeat.”

Gavaskar's predictions of weakness come after Steve Smith's move to open the match following David Warner's Test exit, leaving a large gap at No. 4 for the Aussies, with Cam Green currently occupying that role. India will be keenly aware of the relative instability this has brought to Australia's Test formula and will be keen to capitalise on that advantage.

India defeated Australia 2-1 in both 2018-19 and 2020-21, the latter coming off two superb performances at the SCG and the Gabba. These were India's first series wins in Australia since the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was introduced in 1996. Overall, India has defended the BGT with 4 consecutive series wins since 2016.

Gavaskar's comments come in response to former Australian captain Ricky Ponting's own claims that Australia have returned to winning ways. “I'm obviously betting on Australia to win and I'm never going to bet against Australia. There's going to be a draw somewhere and the weather's going to be bad somewhere, so I'm betting 3-1 to Australia,” Ponting said on the ICC Review last week.

This is the first time since 1991-92 that Australia will host India for a 5-match series, although in the past it has always been a 4-match contest between the two teams.

What can go wrong for India in the Test series against Australia?

Gavaskar also warned of a lack of planning and preparation on the Indian side, pointing out that the team had to recover from the infamous Adelaide Test in 2020 to win two of the remaining three matches of this series.

“India are usually a slow starter in an overseas series in SENA countries, the first Test will be crucial. The fact that they don't play proper first-class games before that and also the week-long breaks between some Test matches could work against them,” said the former India opener. India have their own batting problems with their usual Australian hero Cheteshwar Pujara as well as 20-21 captain Ajinkya Rahane both out of contention and are set to play a relatively inexperienced group.

This year's Border-Gavaskar Trophy comprises 5 matches, starting on November 22 in Perth, plus a pink-ball first-class match between the Indian team and the Australian Prime Minister's XI. India's preparations include series against Bangladesh and New Zealand, while for Australia it will be the first red-ball match since March.