The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 played up to its hype, with India dominating the first two Tests in Nagpur and Delhi, and Australia mounting a strong comeback in the third Test. Despite winning the BGT, the hosts needed to win the fourth Test in Ahmedabad to secure a spot in the World Test Championship final.
As the fourth Test progressed, a tie seemed to be on the cards. India was obliged to rely on New Zealand, who played Sri Lanka, another contender for a position in the WTC final. Sri Lanka needed to win both of their Test matches against New Zealand to get to the World T20 final, but their ambitions were thwarted by Kane Williamson’s magnificent century.
When asked whether they were watching the game in New Zealand, India head coach Rahul Dravid replied it was not in their plans, but they were compelled to do so since the Ahmedabad Test ended in a tie.
“We attempt to deliver results in all of our Testing. We wanted to keep the World Cup qualification in our hands, and we knew we needed to win three games in the series to make the series between Sri Lanka and New Zealand irrelevant “Dravid said this during an interview on Star Sports.
“We knew the first day we saw the pitch in Ahmedabad that winning the toss would be critical. Then, because of the manner Australia played in the first two days, we were compelled to rely on the result of the Sri Lanka-New Zealand match “He went on to say.
