Australia will lock horns against India in the fifth Test match of the Border-Gavaskar trophy at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney from Friday onwards. The home team took a 2-1 lead after winning the penultimate Test of the series by a gargantuan margin of 184 runs.
India had a golden opportunity to play out a draw as they had seven wickets in the bank in the final session of the last day but Australia were able to open the door with Rishabh Pant’s dismissal.
Despite the loss, there were some positives for India with Nitish Kumar Reddy scoring his maiden Test century and Yashasvi Jaiswal also continued to impress at the top of the order.
But pressure is rising on veteran duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who continue their search for big runs in the series. While Kohli has managed 167 runs in four Test matches, Rohit has accumulated only 31 runs in five innings.
On the other hand, Australia are surely getting back to their best after losing the opening Test. The hosts’ batting line-up came up with a collective show in the first innings at the MCG, posting 474 runs on the board.
Australia has confirmed that Mitchell Starc is fit for the Sydney Test whereas Beau Webster has replaced out-of-form Mitchell Marsh in the final XI.
Meanwhile, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir has revealed that Akash Deep has been ruled out with back spasm. Interestingly, Gambhir said they will take a call on playing XI at the time of toss when asked if captain Rohit Sharma would play at SCG.
Match Prediction: Australia will enter the contest as favorites against India.
Australia (Playing XI): Sam Konstas, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
India Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikkal, Tanush Kotian, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana.
Australia Squad: Sam Konstas, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, Beau Webster, Jhye Richardson, Sean Abbott
