Explained: Did Australia overlook Pakistan ODIs in preparation for BGT 2024-25
As the entire cricketing world counts down to the start of the much-anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy, a stunning result in ODIs came and went in a jiffy. While India and its public are still reeling from the home Test series whitewash to New Zealand, Australia suffered an equally humiliating 1-2 home ODI series defeat to Pakistan.
Yet, the supposedly stunning upset of the World champions on their home turf hardly raised eyebrows. Much of it has been attributed to the Australian team, their media, and fans overlooking Pakistan's white-ball tour of Australia for the India Tests.
Pakistan head coach Jason Gillespie did not mince words when he stated the same following the series win over Australia.
"To be honest, I pretty much saw no promotion of our one-day series by Cricket Australia, which was a bit of a surprise. It’s pretty obvious that they’re prioritizing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series against India because I saw no promotion of this series. Fox do a great job promoting but it was pretty clear to us where CA’s priorities lie. That’s their prerogative and their decision but I just didn’t see any advertising, and promotion of this one-day series at all," he said via Hindustan Times.
It is hard to blame everyone involved with Australian cricket even if they were focussing on arguably the biggest event (India-Australia Tests) after the World Cup and overlooking the Pakistan ODIs. Yet, whether that was the case or not remains debatable.
On that note, let us deep dive into the Pakistan ODIs and the ultimate result of the series to figure out if Australia was looking ahead at India without focusing on the task at hand.
Recent results and overall history suggest possible complacency
Numbers don't always paint the complete picture, yet, they don't lie as well. Some staggering recent and historical facts about Australia and Pakistan could be a tell-tale sign that the hosts were perhaps complacent in the Pakistan ODIs and looking firmly ahead to India.
For starters, Pakistan hadn't beaten Australia in a series across formats down under since 2002. With such domination for over two decades against the Asian side on their home conditions, the Aussies were bound to possibly let their guard down.
Also worth remembering are the recent results of both teams - Australia's lost ODI series defeat came over a year back against India before the 2023 World Cup. Ever since, they have been crowned World champions and recorded ODI series wins over the West Indies and England.
Furthermore, Australia's last home ODI series loss before the Pakistan setback came way back in January 2019.
Now turn the page to Pakistan and the side has endured anything but excellent results recently. Until the recent Test series win over England, Pakistan had lost six consecutive Tests and suffered a first-round exit in the T20 World Cup in the middle of their red-ball struggles.
The Men in Green also hadn't played a single ODI and when last seen in action in the 50-over format, they failed to even finish in the top four of the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Adding all these up, one could easily derive with reason the fact of Australia possibly overlooking Pakistan at home and turning their mind to the more challenging India Tests.
The daunting prospect of an unwanted hat-trick
Australia's recent struggles against India in Tests could have led to them being ultra-focussed on the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy and overlooking the Pakistan ODIs.
As dominant as the Aussies have been otherwise across formats over the past few years, bilateral Test series against India have been their kryptonite. The current World Test champions have suffered defeats in their last four Test series against India, including two at home in Australia.
A hat-trick of home series losses against an opponent, especially one that often goes toe-to-toe with them in action and words, would be a massive legacy tarnisher for several of their modern greats.
Just that and the incredible hype and attention surrounding this edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has potentially led to Australia brushing aside anything but the India Tests since the start of this month.
The 'Head' factor
![Travis Head's absence might have played a bigger role than previously expected [Credit: Getty]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/11/2b258-17314080085033-1920.jpg)
As bad as Australia's bowling was in the final two Pakistan ODIs, it was the batting that lacked intensity and purpose in all three games. Pat Cummins' men barely chased down 204 in the opening encounter by two wickets before being shot out for paltry totals of 163 and 140 in the subsequent matches.
While factors like complacency towards Pakistan and ultra-focus on India possibly played a part, a more tangible reason for the ODI series loss could be the absence of Travis Head.
Lest we forget, Australia was meandering along in the 2023 ODI World Cup until Head's return. It sparked an incredible turnaround to their campaign and the southpaw ended up as the Player of the Match in the semi-final and final as the Men in Yellow won their sixth 50-over World Cup.
Cut to Australia's latest ODI series before Pakistan and Head was again the Player of the Series in their 3-2 win over England with 248 runs and six wickets in five outings.
With not a single opening partnership of even 22 in the Pakistan ODIs, Australia's middle order was exposed early and often, resulting in sub-par totals. Thus, beyond overlooking possibly their opponent, Head's absence played a massive role in the shocking home series defeat to Pakistan.
Team selection offers no conclusive evidence one way or the other
![Skipper Cummins played in two of the three ODIs but missed the decider [Credit: Getty]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/11/95727-17314079500892-1920.jpg)
Australia's selection for the Pakistan ODIs as a whole and in each game only adds to the confusion on whether they overlooked the series or went full-on for victory.
Apart from Travis Head and Cameron Green being ruled out for personal and injury reasons, Australia played almost all their regular members from the ODI setup. The likes of Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Adam Zampa played the first two ODIs.
Even Josh Hazlewood played the second ODI despite Australia boasting a 1-0 lead. This made it abundantly clear that Australia at least on personnel wasn't overlooking the Pakistan ODIs for the India Tests.
Yet, come the decider, all the key senior members of the Test squad - Smith, Labuschagne, Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood skipped the contest to start preparations for the Test series against India.
The move became a real giveaway that ultimately even a deciding encounter against a noteworthy opponent wasn't as important as pre-planned schedules for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.