From Ponting to Clarke: 5 former cricketers who had predicted India not to win Border-Gavaskar Trophy

India came up with an exceptional performance to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. As a result, India has become the first Asian team to win consecutive Test series, Down Under. Meanwhile, it was also a fitting reply to some former cricketers, who were pessimistic of India’s chances.

Team India is on a roll following its out of the ordinary performance in the just-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, in Australia, which India retained convincingly. As the celebrations continue for India, it has become the first Asian team to win consecutive Test series, Down Under.

While this win would be remembered in years to come, it was also a fitting reply to some ex-cricketers, who were pessimistic of India’s chances. In the same light, we look at five cricketers who would now repent talking negatively about India’s prospects.

Brad Haddin: The former Australian wicketkeeper-batsman did not sound confident about India’s chances following its defeat in Adelaide, besides being over-confident of an Aussie win in Brisbane. “I don’t think they’ll be able to turn it around. From a cricket point of view, why would India want to go to the Gabba? No one wins at the Gabba, Australia plays really good cricket there and no one’s won for a really long time (besides the Aussies). There’s a lot of moving parts here. The one thing is these guys have been in a bubble for a long, long time and they might just start to be getting a little bit tired,” he told Fox Cricket.

Mark Waugh: The former Australian skipper too sounded over-confident of Australia’s chances of drubbing India, especially following the Adelaide humiliation. “No hope, no hope. I thought Adelaide was the Test that they could win on paper and with Virat Kohli here for just the one Test. I thought the conditions would suit them. I just can’t see how they can bounce back (after) Australia whitewashed them on the third day. So ‘no’ is the answer – four-nil to Australia,” he had informed Fox.

Michael Vaughan: The former English skipper ran his mount on Twitter even before the tour went underway. While he had predicted India would be clean sweept across formats, he must be repenting now.

Michael Clarke: Another former Aussie skipper in the list, Michael Clarke did not entirely believe that India was incapable of winning Down Under. However, he put Australia ahead, besides asking India to believe in itself. “If India can beat Australia at Australia’s own backyard without Virat Kohli, you can celebrate for a year. That will be an unbelievable win. I think that’s the way Indian players have to look at it. They have to believe they are good enough to take on and beat this Australian team,” Clarke was quoted as saying to India Today.

Ricky Ponting: Again, another former Aussie skipper, as Ricky Ponting too believed that provided Australia gets a win in Melbourne as well, it would become difficult for India to bounce back. “Now, there’s some serious wounds opened up. There could be a good chance (of a sweep). Let’s hope we do get a result in Melbourne, and if we do, I think India’s going to find it really hard to bounce back,” he stated to cricket.com.au. Well, India did bounce back. What now, Mr Ponting?