[Watch] Pat Cummins and Jasprit Bumrah pose with the trophy ahead of BGT 2024/25 1st Test

Australia captain Pat Cummins and stand-in India skipper Jasprit Bumrah posed with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Optus Stadium in Perth ahead of the first Test. The opening game of the much-awaited series kicks off on Friday, November 22.

Bumrah will lead the visitors in Perth, with Rohit Sharma on paternity leave and unavailable for the series opener. The right-arm speedster will captain the side for the second time in Tests, having done so previously against England in Birmingham in 2022.

ANI shared a video of the two captains posing with the trophy.

The two captains also posed with the Kookaburra ball. This would be one of the few occasions where two fast bowlers will captain the sides. Bumrah feels more of it should happen in the future, saying in the presser, as quoted by ICC:

"I have always advocated for pacers being captains. They are tactically better. Pat (Cummins) has done a phenomenal job. There are a lot of models in the past as well. Kapil Dev and lot of other captains in the past. Hopefully a start of a new tradition."

Apart from Rohit, India will likely be without Shubman Gill in Perth as well.

"It is kind of one of the last things to tick off for a lot of us" - Pat Cummins on winning Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Cummins believes Australia have risen up well to every challenge in the recent past, but feels they must win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to cement themselves as a world-class side. The 31-year-old said, as quoted by Perth Now:

"For about half the changeroom, we haven’t won the Border-Gavaskar, so it is kind of one of the last things to tick off for a lot of us. Almost every challenge we have had thrown at us over the past few years we have stepped up and done well. To do that for another year, another home summer, would cement us as, rather than just being a two or three season thing, it’s into a half-generation thing."

Australia have notably lost their last four Test series against India.