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Don Bradman was the focus of the first adult book I remember going through as a child. To a primary school student, the injustice of an English captain instructing his countrymen to target a talented Aussie was unfathomable. And so, like many, I came to hate England.

Excitement about the Ashes? That's a given. Cricket’s calendar makes this a special occasion to observe two of the top cricketing nations test and taunt and tease each other over what we hope will be 25 days of intense competition with the red Kookaburra.

As Ian Botham pointed out last week at the announcement of the ticket draw for the historic 2027 match, the Ashes has a unique appeal. “Traditionally, fans globally tunes into the Ashes,” he remarked. “It’s the tradition, it’s the competition, it's always full throttle.”

Across the UK, those two recent drawn series – marked by Smith's prolific scoring and Stokes' heroic innings in 2019, and the Lord’s Long Room disgrace of 2023 – have met the expectations of what an Ashes contest should be. However, they have not had the same cultural impact on the Australian shores when half of Australia nods off before the end of the lunch interval.

On Australian soil, the Ashes has been more subdued than just flat for over ten years. Fans down under anticipate their team to dominate easily, as it has been since the nineties. Scott Boland’s 6-7 at the MCG wasn’t born from a fierce duel, it was a comical English collapse reinforcing perceptions. A true rivalry should not be this way.

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The English team were met in Perth by a predictable front page in the city's paper, “Bazball”, accompanied by a description of the widely respected Ben Stokes as “arrogant”. The paper then had a dig at “Average Joe” Root, also known as “Flop Root in Australia”. This sufficed to elicit a typical media response, enabling the press to squeeze what juice is left in the days before the series begins.

In contrast, last year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy between the Aussies and India sparked something on its own. The spiritual peak was that MCG experience, a memory that will linger forever. The numbers, too, overwhelmed. Over 800,000 attended the five Tests, the fourth highest for any series in Australia and the highest for any non-Ashes contest. Audiences were entranced, not unlike the TV bump for India's UK visit this year, and eight sessions averaged more than two million TV fans.

In recent weeks, the touching send-offs of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli at the Sydney Cricket Ground made ODI matches truly significant. Compare the news title following the previous occasion England came here for a white ball tour: “Record-low MCG crowd for Australia-England ODI sparks concerns for future of 50-over format”.

India’s Rising Influence

Although bad weather disrupted the short-format games with India, the action that occurred indicates Australia are lagging behind the short form’s global benchmark. For the women's game, at the global tournament last month, the home side knocked off the defending champions. The all-format contest starting in Sydney is shaping up as a unofficial world title decider.

It’s easy to dismiss the adoring blue, orange and green crowds that flock to India’s matches – across all formats – as a mere result of the huge expat community of the planet's largest country. But, to bean counters and broadcast bosses, they are an boon.

The world’s largest democracy now means more to Australia than its motherland, given the countries share an ocean, colonial parallels, and growing cultural ties. India will likely overtake the UK, per ABS migration data, as the origin of the biggest contingent of immigrants as soon. The struggling defence pact is driving a recalibration of defence interests respecting the growing influence of Asian powers, a shift that occurred years back in the sport of cricket.

The former Australian skipper, who also led the Indian team, said last week that England was “the classic foe”, but added “honestly, without India, the sport would suffer”.

The Final Challenge

Before Australia claimed the trophy last summer, India had retained it for ten years. In India, Australia haven't triumphed in over two decades. Should the hosts reclaim the Ashes easily this summer, failing to secure the multi-match series in India in early 2027 would leave the Cummins era incomplete.

That elusive victory on the Indian soil remains the final proving ground for this generation, and a setback against England this summer – attributed to unfortunate bowler injury, similar to past incidents – would only fuel the story.

The tourists have not secured a victory in Australia for almost 15 years, and as rich as the lore may be, it cannot sustain a lopsided rivalry forever. So, with a vibrant Indian team having recently departed, Ben Stokes’s players have much to play for. Triumph in the Ashes and remain significant. Alternatively lose the urn and with it something that can’t be won back: the right to Australia’s greatest rivalry. Please England, just be good.