India has travelled to Australia for a long tour which comprises three ODIs, three T20Is, and four Tests. The series starts with the limited-overs leg on the 27th of November all the focus is on the Test Series. The trophy for the Test series between India and Australia has named after Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar and so the trophy which these two teams are fighting for is called the Border Gavaskar Trophy. There are more than fifteen days for the Test series to start but all the talk has been about it because there is so much importance to this trophy. India who defeated Australia in Australia a couple of years has retained the Border Gavaskar Trophy as they had regained it in the 2017 series which was played in India.
India and Australia are two high-quality sides and hence you don’t get many one-sided matches or series with these two teams. Most of the time, even though the home team has an advantage, the opposition will fight it out and don’t lose the series easily. But there have been some occasions when the home team has whitewashed the opposition team. There have been three instances when the Border Gavaskar Trophy ended as a whitewashed series. So, let’s have a look at those three occasions.
- 1999 – Australia whitewashed India (3-0)
India was touring Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy in 1999 which consisted of three Test matches. Australia was dominating world cricket at the moment and it was pretty much certain that Australia would win the series. India didn’t have the experienced players and many of them were travelling to Australia for the first time. Australia was full of great players with the likes of Steve Waugh, Justin Langer, and many others who were part of that team. Australia completely dominated India in the first match as they were defeated by 285 runs. In the second Test, India batted a bit better but still, they lost by a margin of 180 runs, and in the third Test India never had a chance as they lost the game by an innings and 141 runs. Australia demolished India and this was the first whitewashed Border Gavaskar Trophy series.
- 2011 – Australia whitewashed India (4-0)
India had won the World Cup in 2011, but they had got whitewashed by England in the English summer before they had to travel to Australia for the Australian summer. The first Test was the Boxing Day Test at MCG and to a certain extent, India competed in that game but lost by 122 runs. In the next two games, India was not even competing with Australia as they lost by an innings and some runs. Even in the fourth Test, Australia had the opportunity to enforce the follow-on, but they didn’t do so but that didn’t change the result as Australia won that game by 298 runs. As a result, Australia whitewashed India 4-0 in the 2011-12 Test series.
- 2013 – India whitewashed Australia (4-0)
Australia had the Border Gavaskar Trophy, and they arrived with the intention of retaining it in India in 2013. The Indian team had to give it back as they had been whitewashed by this team in 2011. India started on the right note as they won the first game by eight wickets. India completely dominated the Australian side in the second Test as they lost by an innings and 135 runs. India won the last two tests by six wickets and as a result not only regained the Border Gavaskar Trophy but also whitewashed them for the first time in a Test series. This was the last time a team whitewashed the other team in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The last two series have been competitive, and we will be hoping for another competitive Test series which starts on the 17th of December.
