Rishabh Pant, one of the heroes of India's previous triumph in Australia, will be looking to replicate it when the Border-Gavaskar Trophy kicks off in Perth on Friday.
Credit: PTI Photo
Perth: Is Perth the new Brisbane for Australia? For decades, the iconic but intimidating Gabba often used to be the visiting team's first destination where the hosts would leave them softened on a pacy, bouncy and cracking pitch. The blows suffered would be so telling that the tourists would hardly recover from those psychological scars, sustaining Australia's dominance at home.
The status quo altered a bit in 2019 when a bunch of talented rookies and a couple of journeymen from India humbled the fancied hosts in a stirring display of courage and common sense. While Australia managed to win the next two against England and South Africa, they suffered a shock loss at the hands of West Indies in their last Test in Brisbane.
With the fortress having fallen twice in the space of three years after staying unbreachable for 31 long years, Australia appear to have made a tactical shift by scheduling the opening match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series here at the Optus Stadium. The 60,000-seater behemoth is expected to attract a huge West Australian crowd who are known to be hostile to visiting teams. While it's not quite the erstwhile WACA, Australia have maintained a clean slate at Optus, winning four out of four, including the maiden Test against India.
Notwithstanding one of Virat Kohli's finest centuries and Mohammed Shami's brilliance with the ball in the second innings, India couldn't stop Australia from walking away 146-run winners. Shami's absence this time has left a big hole in the Indian pace attack, and while Kohli remains the biggest attraction here, he is no longer the same batter. That pretty much sums up the state of the Indian team at the moment. A stand-in captain in Jasprit Bumrah, a replacement opener and a No. 3 in KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal respectively, a pace-bowling all-rounder in Nitish Reddy who is more known for his white-ball exploits and a third seamer who could be either Prasidh Krishna (with two Tests behind him) and Harshit Rana, who is yet to receive an international cap.
Fresh combinations, new faces and a few seniors struggling to remain relevant provide an unsettled look to the Indian side which is up against one of Australia's stronger batting line-ups and perhaps the best Test attack in the world at the moment. On a pitch with a generous grass cover, it's going to be a mighty tough test for the Indian batters against a set of pacers who have 900 sticks between them. For a team that is coming here after receiving a 3-0 drubbing at home by New Zealand on spin-friendly surfaces, it's like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
In every adversity, however, there is an opportunity. And India shouldn't look beyond their riveting comeback-win on their last tour Down Under following their worst batting show in an innings in the Adelaide Test where they were dismissed for a demoralising 36 in the second innings. Few would have expected India to bounce back from the humiliation but they showed remarkable resolve to pull off India's greatest overseas series win.
As for the team combination, India will likely go with four seamers, including Nitish. While Bumrah will spearhead the attack along with Mohammed Siraj, Delhi quick Rana could be the third pace option though Prasidh has bolstered his case by doing well for India A against Australia A. If Nitish is included, it could open the door for R Ashwin for the lone spinner's spot which has always gone to Ravindra Jadeja in overseas Tests because of his superior batting abilities.
Australia are all set to hand debut to Nathan McSweeney as a potential long-time replacement for the retired great David Warner, and barring this big change, their batting is well-settled with plenty of experience. Bumrah and Co have their task cut out.
Teams (from): AUSTRALIA: Pat Cummins (captain), Usman Khwaja, Travis Head, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wicket-keeper), Alex Carey (wicket-keeper), Mitchell Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland and Nathan Lyon.
INDIA: Jasprit Bumrah (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dhruv Jurel (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana.