The much-awaited Test series of the year is upon us with Australia all set to take on India in the five-match Border-Gavaskar trophy. The opener of the series will be played at the Optus Stadium, Perth and both teams will look to hit the ground running.
India comes to Australia on the back of two Test series wins Downunder and the visitors will look to replicate their previous show. On the other hand, Australia hasn’t won a Test series against India in the last decade and they will aim to turn a corner.
The tourists are under the pump after they suffered a 0-3 whitewash against New Zealand despite playing at home. The batting unit could not click against the Kiwis on turning pitches and they certainly need to come up with an improved performance to replicate their previous success in Australia.
Virat Kohli has been the center of attraction in promoting the series and the talisman will want to be at his best after managing only 93 runs in the three Test matches against New Zealand. India will also be without the services of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Mohammed Shami and thus Jasprit Bumrah will lead the team in full-time captain’s absence.
Australia, on the other hand, will be determined to prove their mettle in their own conditions. The hosts have a well-balanced team and they will look to tick the right boxes to end their winning drought against India.
Match Prediction: It is expected to be a close match between these two powerhouses but Australia might start as slight favorites against India.
India squad: Rohit Sharma © (not available for first Test), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (C), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (Wk), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (Wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc.
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