New Delhi, Sept 9: As the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) draws near, veteran left-handed opener Usman Khawaja has acknowledged the fact that the Indian team takes great joy in defeating Australia in cricket, regardless of the format, while reflecting on historic rivalry that has only intensified over recent years.

India have won 2-1 in the last two Border-Gavaskar Trophy series happening in 2018/19 and 2020/21 in Australia. The visitors’ will be aiming to make it a hat-trick of series wins in Australia when the five-match Test tour starts on November 22 in Perth, followed by games in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

"We're world number one, world number two teams really over the last two years. We were there at the last World Test Championship together. The rivalry has always been huge. I take it as a sign of respect and I know it that Indians love beating Australia in any sort of form of cricket.

“And the tradition that Australia has had over so many years as being one of the dominating teams in world cricket has staked that reputation. I think, yeah, for Indians it's always been the case to beat Australia. And more recently, you know, since the rise of India and IPL and everything else that happened, it's the same way with Australia against India. And particularly since India's beaten Australia in Australia the last two times they've come out of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. It just means a little bit more,” said Khawaja to Star Sports.

Fast-bowler Josh Hazlewood, who was a part of Australia beating India 2-0 in the 2014/15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series at home, said he is keen to get the trophy back for the hosts’.

"Yeah Probably sums it up there, toughest rivalry. It’s always a great challenge playing against India, and they are so used to the conditions out here, they love it. You know in Australia the challenge is huge. They’re batting their top order, no matter who’s playing, is unbelievable, their top six or seven. I played them in my debut series, obviously, and we got the win, that might have been the last time. A lot of the same players are still playing, I think I got Virat that game.

"So a lot of our players, I guess, haven’t beaten India in a test series. The guys were playing, such as Travis Head, Cameron Green, guys like that. So, yeah, huge summer for us coming up and hopefully get that trophy back," he said.

Australia’s seam-bowling all-rounder Mitchell Marsh sees the upcoming series as another chance to grow the longer format. “I think it’s just the cricket that’s been played between the two teams. If you look at the history, the recent history, we’ve won stuff, they’ve won stuff. And I think that when it’s back and forth like that, it builds that rivalry within yourselves.

“You know there’s great friendships in the Indian team with our team, so there’s no hatred. But it’s a great on field rivalry, both teams want to win. And Australia versus India, it’s another opportunity to grow the game of cricket. Not that cricket needs growing in India, but worldwide. People tune into these big series."

(IANS)

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