India v Australia. It doesn't get any bigger than that in world cricket at the moment. Number one touring number two but after this series who knows how those rankings will end up.

Australia haven't won a series in India since 2004 when Adam Gilchrist led the Australians who managed to win the series through pace bowling. But after seeing the pitch pace is very unlikely to play a major part. In fact, in recent days it's been suggested India may play four spinners to combat the Australian left-handed batters.

India hasn't lost a series at home in more than a decade and now with Virat Kohli in better form than ever, it looks like that may continue. Australia is of course also missing two of its fast bowlers in Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. Cameron Green is also set to miss the first Test.

At Edge of the Crowd and the Top Edge Podcast, we couldn't predict exactly how this series was going to end up. So we decided to see if the future is here and implement AI.

The following predictions come from various AI platforms regarding the 2023 Border Gavaskar Trophy.

Prompt: What will happen in the 2023 Border Gavaskar Trophy?

Chat GPT Response

"The 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy was a four-match Test cricket series between India and Australia, held from December 2022 to February 2023. It was the 25th edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, named after the former Australian cricketer Allan Border and Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar. The series was played across four venues in India and was a closely contested affair, with both teams putting up strong performances.

"In the end, India emerged victorious, winning the series 2-1 with one match ending in a draw. Indian skipper Virat Kohli led the team to a historic win, as India managed to beat Australia in their own backyard for the first time in more than a decade. The series saw some fantastic individual performances, with Indian opener Rohit Sharma scoring two centuries and the Indian pace attack led by Jasprit Bumrah impressing with their wicket-taking ability.

"The series was also notable for the level of competitiveness and sportsmanship displayed by both teams. The on-field banter and intense battles between the two sides added to the excitement of the series and made it a memorable one for fans of both teams.

"Overall, the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy was a thrilling series that lived up to its reputation as one of the most anticipated and closely contested cricket rivalries in the world."

Fair to say there are a few things wrong with that description of the series. Firstly Virat Kohli is not the captain, Jasprit Bumrah is not playing and of course, the series is not being played in Australia.

Putting all of that to one side though a 2-1 victory to India would allow Australia to comfortably make their way to the World Test Championship final likely playing Sri Lanka or South Africa at Lords in the middle of the year. India of course needs to win at least three of these matches to make the final.

Prompt: Who will win the 2023 Border Gavaskar Trophy?

Jasper AI Response

"It is always difficult to predict who will take home the Border Gavaskar Trophy ahead of time. However, we can look at recent trends in the series and make educated guesses about which team might have the upper hand. Taking a look at the last five Border Gavaskar trophy series, Australia has won three while India has won two. This suggests that at the moment, Australia may have an advantage in terms of winning the series.

"However, India has a strong batting lineup and home-field advantage which could help them gain an edge when playing in 2023. Both teams will need to consistently perform if they want to take home the Border Gavaskar Trophy this time around and the competition is likely to be intense. The Border Gavaskar Trophy series in 2023 should prove to be a thrilling contest between Australia and India as both teams aim for the trophy. Ultimately, it is too early to predict who will emerge victorious, but we can say that it will certainly be an exciting battle.

"Whoever comes out on top, it should be an exciting series to watch."

So Jasper is unwilling to make a prediction and gives us information about past series. And while it's true India have a strong batting lineup it's really their bowling which gives them the advantage in this series.

Prompt: Who will win the 2023 Border Gavaskar Trophy?

Chatsonic response

"The Border-Gavaskar Trophy (Test series) between India and Australia is set to begin on February 9th in Nagpur and will continue with three more matches in Delhi, Dharamsala, and Ahmedabad. Former wicketkeeper-batter Ian Healy has predicted a 2-1 win for India in the four-Test series against Australia beginning at Nagpur on …Ian Healy has predicted a 2-1 win for India in the four-Test series against Australia, provided the hosts don't prepare "unreasonable wickets".

"If India produces unreasonable wickets like they did half the series last time, the series will be lost for Australia. Harbhajan said India must win the series against Australia by a margin of 3-1, 3-0, or 4-0 to qualify for the World Test Championship final. Mahela Jayawardene, a former Sri Lankan cricketer, has predicted a victory for Australia, but only if India lose by a wide margin.

'They'll not win a Test', Dodda Ganesh predicts outcome of Border-Gavaskar Trophy … According to Ganesh, the Rohit Sharma- …Former India international Dodda Ganesh predicts that the hosts will win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy comfortably, thanks to their experienced spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. He also predicts that Australia, who are currently at the top of the table in Test cricket, have no chance of winning the series.

"If India win the Trophy, they will be required to win by 4-0, 3-0 or 3-1 in order to keep their hopes alive for a place in the World Test Championship Final. Thus, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is expected to be an exciting series, with both teams having a chance to win. The outcome of the Trophy will be determined by the performances of the players on the field, and which team performs better in the hostile conditions of India."

It's fair to say all of these AI bots have a long way to go in terms of predictions. It seems they are happy to spit out as much background information but unfortunately it's often incorrect or misleading.

With sport being something that updates minute to minute with many external variables it looks like it will be a long time before we have AI bots predicting what happens on the field before it happens.

For what it's worth I think India wins this series pretty comfortably, likely 3-1 if there is a green pitch as we saw last year against England or 4-0 if they are bunsens as it looks the first pitch in Nagpur will be.

Hard to see any draws coming on these surfaces where the ball spins from day one and with they're unlikely to be any weather around there is nothing to worry about.

The Australians are a quality side though and if Nathan Lyon finds his groove and is backed up well by Ashton Agar then there is every chance if the toss goes their way the Australians can find victory.

One to watch out for in this series is Travis Head. Not just with the bat where he will be looking to attack early as has been the case for the last couple of summers but with the ball. His off-spin is highly underrated and we all saw what he did in Sri Lanka to keep himself in the side there. By the end of the series don't be surprised if Head is considered a genuine all-rounder as well as a future captain.

Other Edge of the Crowd series predictions.

Dan Coppel India 1 - Australia 1

Jacqui Dodd India 2 - Australia 0

Jessika Ross India 2 - Australia 1

Dylan Cost India 2 - Australia 1

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