Gavin Robertson's Test debut came in one of the most famous games of that era, the Chennai Test of 1998 where Sachin Tendulkar went berserk against Shane Warne, launching the leggie to all parts of the ground. That happened in the second innings though, and Robertson himself got a fair amount of stick there although it was his senior partner who got a bigger share of the mauling. The first innings was
different and Robertson's debut innings in the longest format went well with a 4-fer against a formidable Indian batting unit on the first day of the match. Warne also picked up a 4-fer and the spin twins had set the game up nicely which their batsmen complimented, by taking the lead. Until Tendulkar chose to intervene.

Robertson played all the matches in that famous series and also a Test in Pakistan that year but nothing after it. Like quite a few temporary spinners who were brought in on Asian tours to fill up the second spinner's spot, Robertson too was done with his role in international cricket. In fact, it was his ODI career which gave him the Test opportunity in the first place. Having debuted in the 50-over format much earlier in 1994, Robertson was known to be a very accurate off spinner who could more often than not put a lid on the scoring rate. Australia never played two spinners in Tests barring exceptions or on Asian visits and the latter happened to be the reason for Robertson's brief red-ball career. Even in ODIs, Robertson made scattered appearances over his career of four years.

Originally from Sydney, Robertson plied his trade for a while in his native region before moving base to Tasmania in the hope for better recognition. However, the pitches there were always bound to be batting beauties which restricted his inflow of wickets. Despite that, Robertson was able to make his presence known due to his miserly skills as a bowler, barely allowing the batsmen to score freely in his spells. His hard work there ensured him a few games in the international circuit but as mentioned earlier, Robertson never really had his moments under the sun. Being in a country that didn't have a spin culture as such also never helped his cause.