Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023: 3 Indian players who underperformed in the seriesย
Team India retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as they won the 4-match Test series against Australia 2-1. The last game at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad ended in a tame draw.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the visitors amassed 480 runs in the first innings on what was a placid pitch. Led by Usman Khawaja's marvellous 180, Australia managed to put up their biggest score of the series.
In reply, India managed to stitch up partnerships at regular intervals and took a 91-run first-innings lead, scoring 571 in 178.5 overs. Two resounding centuries - Shubman Gill (128) and Virat Kohli (186) - helped India make a comeback in the game and put Australia's chances of winning the Test out of the equation.
The captains shook hands in the final session, with the series ending 2-1 in favor of India. Following the completion of the competition, both India and Australia successfully qualified for the World Test Championship (WTC) final, which will be held in England in June this year.
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The series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which started in Nagpur last month, proved to be a highly entertaining one for fans. A large share of the credit must go to the Indian lower-order batsmen in Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Axar Patel, who contributed greatly to their team in almost all four matches.
However, apart from them, there were other Indian players as well who failed to make their mark and didn't have much impact on their team's series win.
On that note, let's take a look at three of those Indian players who underperformed in the recently concluded 4-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
#3 Shreyas Iyer
Due to his exasperating back injury, Shreyas Iyer missed the opening Test of the series. He, however, returned to the team, replacing Suryakumar Yadav for the next three Tests.
Given his counter-attacking nature and ability to negotiate spin, much was riding on the middle-order batter's form. However, apart from his 26-run cameo in Indore, the flamboyant batter didn't contribute much to his side.
Onto the WTC final 
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Series W ๐ฎ๐ณ Onto the WTC final โ๏ธGutted to have missed out on the last few days but Iโll return stronger. Thank you for all the messages ๐ค https://t.co/Td9M5qScBM
While Iyer would be gutted to miss out on the opportunity to bat in Ahmedabad, his numbers throughout the series weren't admirable either.
In the four innings that Iyer batted it, he scored only 42 runs at an average of 10.5. Iyer, who scored 624 runs at an average of 56.7 prior to the Border-Gavaskar series, would've hoped for a better display against Australia.
#2 Mohammed Siraj
Inarguably, one of the world's most improved bowlers in the last year or so, Mohammed Siraj kick-started the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 with a bang.
He trapped Usman Khawaja in front on his very first ball of the series and continued to be a threat for the next couple of overs in Nagpur.
However, following his first spell in the first Test, Siraj failed to make an impact and looked toothless, to say the least, for the rest of the series. He played the first three Tests and picked up only one wicket, which was off his first ball, as mentioned earlier.
Bowling 144 balls in the series, Siraj had a poor average of 73 and leaked runs at an economy rate of over 3 during the three games he played in the series.
Jasprit Bumrah's unavailability makes Siraj even more vital for India. The team would hope that the Hyderabadi speedster weaves his magic during the WTC final.
#1 KL Rahul
Despite playing just two matches, KL Rahul was probably India's worst performer in the series. Even before the commencement of the much-awaited Test series, there were talks of dropping Rahul in place of an in-form Shubman Gill.
The Indian management, however, went with their vice-captain, who opened with his skipper Rohit Sharma for the first two Tests.
Rahul even enjoyed a start in the first innings in Nagpur, where he scored 20 runs before throwing his wicket away at the cusp of the day's play. India persisted with Rahul for the Delhi Test as well, where he had two opportunities to prove himself.
Unfortunately, for the talented batter, he couldn't make the most of them and registered scores of 17 and 1 in the two innings. Apart from his low scores, Rahul once again seemed to be in his shell and was diffident in his approach.
What went wrong with the promising superstar KL Rahul? ๐คฏ
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Ahead of the third Test, Rahul was scrapped from his vice-captaincy duties and was finally dropped in favor of Gill. The latter announced himself with a wonderful century in the fourth Test in Ahmedabad.
Scoring just 38 runs at an average of 12.67, which included just a single boundary and a six across three innings, would've certainly hampered Rahul's confidence.
However, given his immense talent and experience, fans would expect him to put his disappointments behind and start afresh in all three formats for India.