Controversy swirls around Team India's player headshots with drastic change from 2018: Is it a BGT photoshoot or Aadhar card?

We are now just days away from the highly anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which is undoubtedly one of the biggest events in cricket this year aside from the 2024 T20 World Cup. The recent struggles of Team India in their preparation for the series have left fans feeling anxious about their chances against Australia in the upcoming five-Test series, despite their impressive record of never losing this series in the past decade. Even the player photoshoots before the series seem to have done little to alleviate the concerns surrounding the team's form.

Images have emerged online of the results of the official photoshoots that were conducted for the Indian team ahead of the series and reactions to it have been lukewarm at best. The Indian stars can be seen smiling straight at the camera in the pics, as opposed to what was the case on previous tours in which the players struck some kind of a pose.

The one headshot in particular that has upset fans the most is that of Virat Kohli's. Looking boss during the profile from six years ago - for the 2018/19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy when he was the captain, Kohli appeared rather disinterested, tired with a compulsory smile on his face.

Here are some of the reactions on X:

This will be the first time since the 1991/92 that India and Australia play a five-match Test series. Consequently, it is also the first time that they play a five-match rubber since the introduction of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 1996/97.

Australia last won the trophy in the 2014/15 series that was held Down Under and since then, India have won four series on the trot. This includes two wins in Australia. The first of those came in 2018/19 and made India the first Asian team to beat Australia in a Test series at the latter's home. The second win was arguably even more remarkable, with India losing the first Test after being all out for a record low score of 36 runs in their second innings and then going on to win the series 2-1 despite most of their big stars being injured by the time the last Test came around. However, India did lose to Australia in the final of the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) at The Oval.

India and Australia were the outright favourites to feature in the 2025 WTC final as well regardless of how the Border-Gavaskar Trophy went, with the former playing five Tests at home before their tour. However, Rohit Sharma's side suffered a stunning 3-0 whitewash at the hands of New Zealand which has thrown their route to the WTC final in jepoardy. India now need to beat Australia 4-0 at least to assure themselves of a spot in the one-off Test independent of other results.

The series loss to New Zealand has also left a lot of questions hanging on the team. It was India's first Test series defeat at home since 2012. Moreover, India had never loss a Test series to New Zealand at home before this and they had never been whitewashed in a series consisting of more than two matches in their own backyard.