India v Australia 2008 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Border-Gavaskar Trophy

India and Australia have been playing test cricket since 1947. However, from 1996-97 the test series between these two countries has been named the Border-Gavaskar trophy in honour of the two legends - Allan Border from Australia and Sunil Gavaskar from India respectively.

The Ashes refers to the series between Australia and England. The series between Australia and New Zealand is played for the Chappel-Hadlee trophy. The Warne-Tendulkar trophy does not exist.

Answer: False

The first test series played for the Border-Gavaskar trophy was won by India, in the one off test in 1996-97, India again won in 1997-98 and Australia won in 1999-2000. The 2000-2001 series was won by India 2-1 in a very exciting series. Australia trounced India in the first test, and the second test at Kolkata was dominated by Australia who had enforced a follow-on. With India at 4/254, the series seemed lost. But VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid put on a mammoth 335 run partnership and India set the Australians a target of 384, and then dismissed Australia for 212.

India also won the final test in Chennai on an exciting fifth day. Because of the ups and downs and the hard fight put up by India against a strong Aussie team, this series is regarded as one of the greatest series. The 2003-04 series was drawn 1-1. The 2004-05 series was won by Australia won 2-1. Thus, in 2004-05 Australia managed to breach the 'last frontier'.

Answer: Australia won 2-1

The 2007-08 series was played in Australia. The first test was played in Melbourne and Australia won convincingly.

The second test was played in Sydney and was highly controversial. There was an on-field spat between Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh which had racial overtones. India was at the receiving end of some "dubious" umpiring decisions. On the final day, India lost with just nine minutes left in the match. India came back with a bang in the third test at Perth winning by 72 runs. The final test was played at Adelaide and Ricky Ponting led from the front and the result was a draw. Australia thus won the series 2-1 and retained the Border-Gavaskar trophy.

Answer: Kumble and Ponting

Anil Kumble was appointed captain for the 2008 series by the Indian selectors with M.S. Dhoni as the vice-captain. Ricky Ponting was appointed as Australian captain for the series with Michael Clarke as his deputy. Kumble and Ponting were the captains even in the 2007-08 series in Australia.

Answer: Hayden

Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne were two of the key Australian players who were instrumental in the phenomenal success rate of the Australian team in the 2000s. All the three players had retired and were thus not available for selection in the 2008 series, even though there were some rumours about Warne's return. Mathew Hayden had previously a very successful run against India, especially in India. He has been selected for the 2008 series.
Allan Border had retired in 1994.

Answer: None of these three, they were all selected

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Saurav Ganguly are known as the 'Fab Four' or the 'Golden Oldies' of Indian cricket. The Indian selectors were working to gradually build a team without the 'fab four'. Dravid, Laxman and Sachin made it to the team on the basis of their past records, however there was speculation about Ganguly's place in the team.

But the new Indian selection team under Kris Srikkanth decided to give Ganguly another chance in the team.

Answer: True

Just before a one day series in mid-2008 against Bangladesh, the Australian team had scheduled a team meeting. But Andrew Symonds skipped the meeting and decided to go fishing. The Australian team management was infuriated by his behaviour and threw him out of the team for the Bangladesh series.

He was also not selected for the India tour, even though had a good record against India. The Australian cricket board went to the extent of warning him that his career was finished. Symonds later played in a local tournament and began a rehabilitation process to ensure that he got back into the team.

Answer: Greg Chappell

Greg Chappell was the former coach of India, who had to resign after the Indian team's debacle in the 2007 World Cup. Later on he was appointed head of the Australian Cricket Academy and by virtue of that position, he accompanied the Australian team to India as assistant coach. Chappell organised a special training camp in Rajasthan at the training academy run by him. Chappell had to face criticism from some Indians who accused him of leaking secrets about the Indian team to the Aussies.

Answer: Cameron White

The absence of Shane Warne and McGill ensured that Australians were inexperienced in the spinning department. They decided to bring back Cameron White, a leg spinner, into the team for the India tour. Cameron had toured India earlier in 2004 and had also played against an India A team in India. Considering this experience, he was taken into the team after the original choice Bryce McGain was injured. Mitchell Johnson is a pace bowler, Brad Haddin the wicket keeper and Shuan Marsh a batsman.

Answer: Draw

A warm-up 4 day test match was scheduled between the Australian team and a Board President's XI (BPXI) which was led by Indian one day vice-captain Yuvraj Singh. BP XI batted first and scored 455 and managed to dismiss Australia for 314 with leg spinner Piyush Chawla taking 5/89.

In the second innings BPXI declared at 292/4 and Australia ended the match on 2/127. The match ended in a draw.