India and Australia clash in the first Test of their four-match series at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune starting on Thursday.
The Indians, led by Virat Kohli, start the series as huge favourites. They are currently the number one Test team in the world and are unbeaten in their last 19 matches in the format.
Australia, on the other hand, aren’t known to be the best of travellers, especially to the sub-continent. They have lost their last nine Test matches in Asia and will need something special if they are to get anything out of this series.
DATE, TIME, VENUE INFO
Date: 23 February – 27 February 2017
Time: 09:30 local time (IST), 04:00 GMT, 08:00 GST
Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune
WHERE TO WATCH, LIVE STREAMING INFO
TV: UAE – OSN Sports Cricket HD, India – Star Sports 1, HD 1 [English], Star Sports 3, HD 3 [Hindi]
Online streaming: hotstar.com, Hotstar app [in India only]
LIVE blog: Sport360 blog
TEAM NEWS, SQUAD, PREDICTED XI
INDIA SQUAD: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Abhinav Mukund, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav.
India come into this match with a lot of confidence, having won eight out of the nine Test matches that they have played during this long home season.
The hosts are likely to continue with the strategy of playing five bowlers, which means that Karun Nair – who scored a triple century in his last Test innings – will sit out again.
Although they played with three fast bowlers and two spinners against Bangladesh last time out, India will in all probability go back to using two pacers and three spinners against Australia.
It should mean Jayant Yadav will come back into the side at the expense of either Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Ishant Sharma.
PREDICTED INDIA XI: Vijay, Rahul, Pujara, Kohli (c), Rahane, Saha (wk), Ashwin, Jadeja, Jayant, Ishant, Umesh.
AUSTRALIA SQUAD: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Jackson Bird, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Stephen O’Keefe, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade (wk).
Australia hasn’t had the best of times in the sub-continent in recent history and the last time they visited India for a Test series, they were whitewashed 4-0.
Even last year when they toured Sri Lanka, they endured an embarrassing 3-0 loss in a three-match Test series.
Here, they are set to go into the match with five specialist batsmen, four bowlers, one all-rounder and a wicket-keeper.
Shaun Marsh, based on his ability to play spin, is likely to get a look in ahead of Usman Khawaja in the XI.
The big question is regarding the bowling and what kind of approach the visitors will go for. Stephen O’Keefe and Nathan Lyon are set to play as the lead spinners, but will Australia be tempted to play a spin-bowling all-rounder like Ashton Agar or Glenn Maxwell?
PREDICTED AUSTRALIA XI: Warner, Renshaw, Smith (c), S Marsh, Handscomb, M Marsh, Wade (wk), Starc, O’Keefe, Lyon, Hazlewood.
FORM
(Last five matches – with latest match first)
INDIA: W W W W W
AUSTRALIA: W W W W L
MATCH PREDICTION
India to win.
