AUS vs IND | 3rd Test Preview: Border-Gavaskar Trophy is at stake in Sydney

The ongoing Border Gavaskar series in Australia has shown more anti-climax than what experts and fans had expected out of it. India captain Virat Kohli had announced he would head back home after the first Test, and some injury concerns to the touring Indian side, made their fans feel nothing but doom and gloom about the prospect of the four-match series. 

In their eyes, India had the best chance in the first Test as the best batsman in the side, and the captain Virat Kohli was still around, and he showed what he was capable of with the bat through a sublime innings before getting run out. 

But what followed in the second innings of the Adelaide Test was a complete anticlimax, with India bundled out for their lowest total in history, and there was no coming back for them after that carnage, especially with Mohammaed Shami also getting ruled out of the Test series.

Then again, another anti-climax followed at the MCG in the second Test with the India stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane marshalling his troops to perfection and scripting one of the most memorable comebacks for an Indian team on overseas tours. 

No one, including all pundits on either side of the fence, as well as fans, had given the Ajinkya Rahane-led side that did not have two of the four frontline bowlers any chance of coercing and choking Australian batsmen for so long in both the innings at the MCG. 

But they did and did it handsomely to dismiss the outrageous claims that Indians can’t win without Kohli and that the team was down and out mentally after that horrible collapse to 36 all out at the Adelaide Oval. Now the tables have turned a bit with the home side searching for a cover for their fragile top order and looking to make amends in the batting tactics to put pressure back on the Indian bowlers.

With the kind of bowling attacks the sides have, it’s always a battle of cat and mouse between the batting line ups against bowlers on either side, and they need to ensure that they are right at the top of the game every ball to stop the bowlers running away with the game. 

The case is more challenging for the Indian batsmen as the Australian bowlers have and will never be off from their desired line and lengths. Ajinkya Rahane and his men with the bat will have to make sure they score at least enough runs to have attacking fields for a longer period of time in order to give their prime bowling line-up a chance to dismiss Australian batsmen.

The Aussie batters have a similar task of scoring big runs too. Their heavyweights in Steve smith and Marnus Labuschagne have struggled to get going in the series. Labuschagne has scored runs, but he must have realised that the amount of luck he rode on to score those runs is not reliable. They would be elated with the return of David Warner, who has been instrumental in their success at home with blazing strokes against the new ball and unbelievable consistency. 

The hosts tried to promote Matthew Wade for a similar role, but the left-hander failed to emulate Warner, and either went into his shell leading to his downfall or attacked too much to get dismissed in a disappointing fashion.

As things stand now, both teams have similar selection conundrums to deal with as both the experienced batsmen, David Warner and Rohit Sharma, are returning to stake a claim on their openers’ slot while there are question marks over their respective batting partner at the top of the order. For Australia, Will Pucovski has looked good in nets, but coach Justin Langer has said that his selection is not guaranteed and that it will depend on the kind of team combination they would prefer playing at the SCG. For India, Rohit Sharma will have to come in place of either Hanuma Vihari or Mayank Aggarwal, the duo who have been mainstays of the Indian team over the last 18 months on overseas tours but have not looked in great touch against the Australian bowlers.

India have one more worry than the home side as they have lost yet another pacer from their first choice seamers and the team management had their task cut out to choose one among the impressive trio of Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, and T Natarajan. All three are completely different in their mode of operations, and it came down to what the team management expects and wants of the third seamer in the team with Mohammed Siraj shining in the debut at the MCG and showing that he is ready to take the challenge of one of the top two pacers in the bowling line-up.

Australia vs India: Match Details

Venue: Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney

Date and Time: January 7-11, 05:30 AM IST, 12:00 IST

Broadcaster: Sony Sports Network and SonyLIV

Pitch Report

The pitch at the SCG is expected to be a true surface with a lot of grass left on it, in the view of curator Adam Lewis. The temperature in Sydney has been on the higher side, and hence, Lewis believes leaving grass on the pitch was essential to hold the surface together and prevent crumbling.

But, the pitches at the SCG have had the reputation of being one of the flattest wickets in Australia, if not the flattest, and hence teams are eager to play five bowlers on this ground. In the last series, Virat Kohli had played Kuldeep Yadav as the second spinner apart from Ravindra Jadeja, and the young wrist-spinner had taken five wickets to show the purchase spinners were getting.

The pitch looks flat in the limited photographs that have been shared on Twitter by authenticated sources with no real coverage of grass on it. Both India and Australia will play five bowlers but the hosts will rely on Nathan Lyon alone to do the bulk of the damage in the spin department with Cameron Green playing as the fifth bowler. On the other hand, India will bank on the deadly combination of Jadeja and Ashwin to take more wickets on the SCG pitch that is more conducive to spin, than any other pitch in Australia. However, the pitch might be more flat than spin-friendly, and expecting too much out of the surface for spinners will be unrealistic.

Big names such as Steve Smith and Cheteshwar Pujara who are yet to make a mark can’t get a better surface than the one at the SCG to put their head down for a big one. Bowlers should be in for a long haul if one or two batsmen from either side get set.

Team News

Australia

Coach Justin Langer has confirmed David Warner’s return to the team although the left-hander won’t be able to move freely on the ground. Langer suggested that his movement will be limited and he will be positioned in the slips in place of Steve Smith. One of the contenders to be his partner at the top, Will Pucovski, has sought an assessment from an independent neurologist but has looked good in the nets while preparing for the Test. He was touted to be the partner of Warner in the first Test, but concussion ruled him out, and now, as Langer has said, it depends on the preferred team combination if the right-hander will get his debut at the SCG or not.

In Warner's absence, Wade was brought at the top of the order, and at his place, in the middle order, Cameron Green has been inducted into the team. In case the team management decided to include Pucovski as the second opener, it would mean one of Wade or Head will miss out at the SCG. Head has been under enormous pressure after fairly average batting in the series and more so due to his tendency of throwing his wickets away after getting off to a good start. But leaving out any of the two will be a tough ask for the team management and rightly, Langer said that this is the ‘hardest part’ of his job as the coach of the side.

Strongest XI

David Warner, Will Pucovski, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Cameron Green, Tim Paine (C & Wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

India

Even after winning the last Test at the MCG in an emphatic fashion, selection issues are far from settled for the Indian team management. Rohit Sharma has returned with full fitness and is looking in great touch in the nets. He will have to be replaced by one batsman because Indians can’t afford to go into a Test match at the SCG with only four bowlers at their disposal.

The newest entrant in the batting department - Shubman Gill - has done enough to retain his place in the playing XI. Hence, it leaves only two vulnerable batsmen who can face the axe on Sharma’s entry. 

If the team management decides to replace Rohit with Vihari, either Shubman Gill or Rohit will bat in the middle order, whereas if Agarwal is shown the door, Rohit and Gill will open the batting for India. Rohit last played a competitive match in the IPL final and a red-ball game back in late 2019, against Bangladesh, and that could be a big factor that will make Rohit’s batting position a tricky one for the team management, but his place in the team is all but secure from the outset. On the bowling front, the team management have made a call of picking Saini in the absence of Umesh. 

Strongest XI

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (C), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (Wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini

Australia vs India: Dream 11 team and suggestion

Rishabh Pant, Ajinkya Rahane, Marnus Labuschange, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, R Ashwin, Nathan Lyon, Ravindra Jadeja, Cameron Green, Pat Cummins, Jasprit Bumrah

Captain: Marnus Labuschagne

Vice-captain: Cheteshwar Pujara

Powered by Froala Editor

Powered by Froala Editor