Big picture
When India last played a test series in Australia and won a historic victory, an inevitable caveat was tied – Australia were without their key players Steven Smith and David Warner, and a team with a new captain and batting shaky line-up.
Without Virat Kohli in the middle, an unstable opening pair, and a standing captain with some lively questions of his own, India are now compared to that Australian team on the follow-up tour.
One thing the Indians knew about leaving Kohli and had planned it, another thing was that it followed a historical low. There was little need for a smooth transition to Ajinkya Rahane: there could have been closer competition in Adelaide, a game that lasted deeper than two and a half days, even if India lost. A few tweaks in the batting sequence, a bit of oiling of the machine, and there would still be plenty of time to push a series output.
But here is Rahane – the last game of a year that has been non-stop in many other ways – tasked with trying to keep the series alive with all 36 ghosts out there and, out without one half of the fast bowling duo set to anchor this time around, perhaps trying to fill the gaps with a couple of editors.
In the other camp, Tim Paine is a much calmer man, and Australia are a very different team. Warner isn’t there yet, and is far from a hard line of batting. But they hung on, in a game of two Steven Smith runs, long enough for their bowling attack to work the magic. The two openers found a run before the end of the last game, the wunderkind editor looked like he belonged, and they know that a soft Indian team can’t win the series if it comes 2-0 at Melbourne. You don’t catch them worrying about caves.
Form instructions
The last five completed games, the most recent first
Australia: WWWWW
India: LLLWW
In mind
Steven Smith always on alert against India. Prior to the first test, he scored fifty and every second innings on average against India. After 1 and 1 * scores, he still gets an average of 79.5 against them. Australia want Smith to be in the middle with a reasonable score on the board, on a goal range, against a line with a few scratches. There is only one way this trip could get worse for India, and that is if Smith finds his hands again.
He is perhaps the most skilled archer in the Indian line, however Jasprit Bumrah he has never been a single major fast bowler before. Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami have both been around for Bumrah’s test career so far, sharing responsibilities in a strong bowling attack. Umesh Yadav is familiar but not a regular, and Mohammed Siraj is a debater. Bumrah is thought to have a stable head, and for getting better and better within games and leagues. Can he continue to do so as a de facto leader on bowling?
Team news
Paine has backed both Matthew Wade and Cameron Green ahead of this game, and said Australia are not thinking about how to sign Warner until they have to do so. There are no signs of any changes in the timeline.
Australia (possibly): 1 Joe Burns, 2 Matthew Wade, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Cameron Green, 7 Tim Paine (capt & wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan Lyon
India has relegated Prithvi Shaw and given debuts to Shubman Gill and Siraj, who were both on good trips in the practice games before the series. Rishabh Pant got a hundred in the second of those games, and is on the sidelines to replace Wriddhiman Saha as the keeper. These are the similar changes. Ravindra Jadeja missed the first Test with concussion issues and hamstring the fifth bowling option.
India: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Ajinkya Rahane (capt), 5 Hanuma Vihari, 6 Rishabh Pant (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
Park and conditions
The Melbourne forecast suggests some major variations during the Test. Pleasant weather is expected on the first day with a 33-degree-celsius high on the second day, which is also the same day with a rain forecast. The last three days are expected to be colder than that.
Stats and trivia
- Australia have played all six trials since the end of last year’s ashes. This is Paine’s favorite climb since taking over as captain.
- Since 2001, India has played two debaters abroad just twice before – Virender Sehwag and Deep Dasgupta in 2001 against South Africa, and Kohli, Abhinav Mukund and Praveen Kumar in 2011 against West Indies.
- This is the 100th Test between Australia and India – Australia has won 43 and lost 28 of those, and there has been one link.
Quotes
“The moment we take a leg off the pedal and we think we’re going okay, we saw in England in that fifth test, that we can come to a stop So we have a big focus from that fifth test in the ashes on winning after we won and our idea of the next game. to be excellent in the way we have prepared for this game.We know that some of the players they are talking about are coming into their side, like KL Rahul or Rishabh Pant, they are dangerous players who love to take the game forward and they will play positively. If we give that an inch like that, they will take a mile. ”
Tim PaineThe side is reminiscent of some old lessons
Varun Shetty is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo