Australian skipper Pat Cummins on Thursday admitted that there will be pressure on home side heading into the first Test match of the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India, starting on November 22 (Friday) in Perth. Australia will be out to break their losing streak to reclaim the BGT title, which has eluded them since 2014-15.
It remains a heavy task for Australia to outplay India and lift the BGT title, but the host will be confident when they take the field with remarkably talented long-term members Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith and Mitchell Starc. While the both sides will be battling each other in the first Test match, there will also be the IPL 2025 mega auction, which will be held in Jeddah on November 24 and 25.
IPL 2025 auction will clash with first Test match but Australian skipper Pat Cummins feels that players will not be distracted by this. Australian assistant coach Daniel Vettori has already flown to attend the auction with Sunrisers Hyderabad.
"Yeah, I think he is there in the auction. I don't think so. Dan has obviously flown over there, but he has been here for the whole prep. Done all the meetings, done all the chats, watching it. We came to know that anyway," Cummins said during the press conference.
"So, for the players, I don't think so. Most of these guys have been there in the auctions before. The reality is you can't really do anything. You are a sitting duck and seeing whether you get selected or not. It doesn't... doesn't make a difference to how we go about the first two days. It is not a distraction as far as I can see it," he said.
In the past decade, Australia have been outstandingly successful, winning a T20I World Cup, an ODI World Cup and a World Test Championship, but they have unsuccessful in lifting BGT title, which remains their formost goal going into this edition of high-profile BGT.
"I think for about half the change room we haven't won the Border-Gavaskar, so it's kind of one of the last things to tick off I think for a lot of us. I also think almost every challenge that we've had thrown at us over the last few years, we've stepped up and done well. I think to do that for another year, another home summer would kind of cement this, rather than just being a two or three season thing, it's suddenly into a half generation thing. So, yeah, we're all excited,” Cummins said.