Steve Waugh ignores Rohit Sharma, names Virat Kohli and this superstar as key to India's BGT success

Legendary Australia National Cricket Team batsman Steve Waugh ignored India National Cricket Team skipper Rohit Sharma while picking two players who will be key to India's success in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.

The upcoming edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is scheduled to be played in Australia. The series opening clash will be played in Perth from November 22, and the second pink-ball Test will be played in Adelaide from December 6. Following that, the rest of the matches will be held in Brisbane (December 14-18), Melbourne (December 26-30), and Sydney (January 3-7).

When India travel down under, they will aim to extend their dominance over the Aussies in Test cricket while the Pat Cummins-led side will aim to end India's winning run in BGT.

The Men In Blue are on a 4-series winning streak at the moment, having lost their last Border-Gavaskar series in 2014-15 and their last BGT defeat at home came way back in 2004-05. Also, India have won 10 series in the rivalry as compared to Australia's 5.

Meanwhile, the legendary batsman Steve Waugh stated the upcoming Test series will be an epic one, and tourists will have a great chance to win it because of the strong bowling attack they have. Steve Waugh stated:

"It'll be a good series with two very good teams, equally matched. India has a good chance to win in Australia because they have a very strong bowling attack."

Key will be Jasprit Bumrah's performance with the ball and Virat Kohli's performance with the bat - Steve Waugh

Steve Waugh further said that India have a quality bowling attack with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav in their ranks.

However, Steve Waugh opined that the performances of the bowling great Jasprit Bumrah and the batting legend Virat Kohli will determine the outcome of the series for India.

"With Bumrah, Siraj, and Shami, they have an excellent pace attack, and they also have many good spinners, such as Jadeja, Ashwin, and Kuldeep but the key will be Jasprit Bumrah's performance with the ball and Virat Kohli's performance with the bat. Bumrah is an excellent bowler, the more he takes wickets, the higher the chances of India winning the series gets high," Waugh told IANS.

"We have seen Virat's performance in away conditions. The Indian batting depends on him, so he will be at the helm. However, Australia has a very good team as well, with a strong bowling attack. So, with two high-quality teams, I expect it to be an excellent series," Steve Waugh added

Notably, Australia and India locked horns with each other in the final of the ICC World Test Championship 2023, and there is a huge possibility of these two teams facing off each other once again in the WTC 2025 final at Lord's.

Currently, India occupy the No.1 position on the ICC World Test Championship points table with a PCT of 68.52 while Australia are in the second position with a PCT of 62.50.