The 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy came to an end on Sunday (January 5) with Australia winning the series for the first time in five attempts. Read on for the subplots which defined the series.
Jasprit Bumrah v Travis Head
Perhaps the most box-office battle of the entire series – India's best bowler versus Australia's most destructive batter. They didn't have much of a straight match-up in the first Test, although Bumrah did celebrate exuberantly when he got rid of Head in Australia's (nearly impossible) run chase.
Read more: 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy ends as shortest five-match Test series in a century
The Australian was well and truly on top in Adelaide and Brisbane on his way to big hundreds in those two matches, before Bumrah had the last laugh in Melbourne. His second innings dismissal of Head for one was vital in giving India the faintest sniff of a win – even though they eventually went on to lose.
Mitchell Starc v Yashasvi Jaiswal
With India on top in the first Test, the young Jaiswal said Starc was bowling "too slow", as he made his way to 161, the highest score in the series. At the time, Starc only reacted with a smirk, and let the ball do the talking thereafter. Jaiswal was done in twice by Starc in Adelaide, and once more in Brisbane.
The batter was rather more restrained thereafter, but in the final Test slammed Starc for four boundaries in the first over of the third innings as India took an aggressive approach with the bat in an attempt to set a defendable total.
Scott Boland v Virat Kohli
A batter infamous for edging to slip against a bowler celebrated for machine-like accuracy. What other way could this battle have gone? Kohli first came up against Boland in Adelaide off the back of his Perth century, and promptly nicked one to keeper Alex Carey.
Read more: Five Tests, five wickets: Scott Boland maintains remarkable stranglehold over Virat Kohli
Boland, relentless in his ability to operate in the channel just outside off, hit the same spot over and over and over again. An already-struggling Kohli fell victim to his own limited scoring options and some devilish seam movement – he pushed and edged again, and again, and again, three more times to record another subpar series.
Jasprit Bumrah v Usman Khawaja
Bumrah was India's lone warrior with the ball and in this series tormented Australia's openers. From the moment he came around the wicket to the southpaw Khawaja, he had him in all sorts of strife.
India's spearhead got rid of him six times in eight innings, giving the tourists early inroads. It's no coincidence that the one time Khawaja crossed fifty this series, it was when he was almost forcibly kept off strike against Bumrah by the Sam Konstas show.
