After sharing the limited-overs honours, India and Australia will resume their rivalry in Test cricket for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. India, thanks to their historic Test series win Down Under in 2018-19, hold the trophy. And the visitors will hope for a repeat despite the change in the star cast.
Last time around, the Aussies were without Steve Smith and David Warner, who were serving respective one-year bans for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. Warner has been ruled out of the first match at Adelaide Oval due to an injury but is expected to feature in the remaining three matches. But India will miss their skipper Virat Kohli after the series opener even as Rohit Sharma's participation still remains a doubt.
Both the warm-up matches, including a day-night simulator at the Sydney Cricket Ground, have ended in draws, expectedly. But India will be happy from those six days of practice with the likes of Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant all scoring runs; while the bowlers, led by Jasprit Bumrah, showed their class.
Aussies too have found creditable individual performances but were hit by injuries as young talents Will Pucovski and Cameron Green are ruled out due to concussion protocols.
On the eve of the match, India announced their XI. They preferred Prithvi Shaw over an in-form Shubman Gill to partner Mayank Agarwal as openers. Shaw has been in poor form and his technique has also been questioned but skipper Virat Kohli, during the pre-match press conference, made it clear that both Shubman Gill and KL Rahul are not in his scheme of things as of now. Also, veteran Wriddhiman Saha has been selected over Rishabh Pant, who scored a hundred in the pink ball practice game. Saha had scored a gutsy 50 that got more credence than Pant's 100 against slow bowlers.
The first Test match at Adelaide Oval, however, will still be a crunch contest between the two proud sides.
Check match and telecast details here:
Match: Day-night Test match between Australia and India. This is a part of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship.
Date: December 17 to 21, 2020.
Time: 9:30 AM IST/ 2:30 PM Local
Venue: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, Australia
TV Channels: Sony Six/HD, Sony Ten 1/HD (English); Sony Ten 3/HD (Hindi). Telecast starts 8:30 AM IST.
Live Streaming: SonyLiv
India's playing XI: Virat Kohli (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Australia likely XI: Joe Burns, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head or Cameron Green, Matthew Wade, Tim Paine (c & wk), Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood.
India: Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Hanuma Vihari, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
Squads:
Australia: Batsmen: Joe Burns, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, David Warner, Marcus Haris; All-rounders - Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser, Cameron Green, Pat Cummins; Wicketkeepers - Tim Paine (c), Matthew Wade; Bowlers - Sean Abbott, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson.
India: Batsmen - Virat Kohli (c), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma; All-rounders - Hanuma Vihari, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin; Wicketkeepers - KL Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha, Rishabh Pant; Bowlers - Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav.
Remaining schedule for the tour:
2nd Test: December 26 to 30, 2020 at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne. Start time - 5:00 AM IST/10:30 AM Local
3rd Test: January 7 to 11, 2020 at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney. Start time - 5:00 AM IST/ 10:30 AM Local
4th Test: January 15 to 19, 2020 at The Gabba, Brisbane. Start time - 5:30 AM IST/10:00 AM local
