A Marquee Series without Marquee Players: Will this India vs Australia Series be Interesting as always?
Adelaide, 16/12: In less than 24 hours the biggest test series of the year between India and Australia will get underway in Adelaide. This will be the first day and night test match between the two teams. Will Steve Smith play? Is the absence of David Warner going to hurt Australia? Will India miss Rohit and Ishant? Let’s find out
Cricketing superpowers India and Australia are going to lock-horns in the 1st test match on Thursday. This series is going to be huge, not only for bankrupt(almost) Cricket Australia but also for fans of test cricket all around the globe. After the postponement of the World T20 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Cricket Australia was eagerly waiting to host this series. But the bigger question is, the absence of Virat Kohli, who is arguably Cricket’s biggest superstar right now after the first test match hurt Cricket Australia’s financial hopes!!
Not only Virat but the unavailability of Warner(out from 1st test), Rohit Sharma(out from 2 tests), Ishant Sharma will hurt the series in a big way. With Steve Smith doubtful for the 1st test the series will lose its Starpower if all these players miss out.
Coming back to tomorrow’s test match, the pink ball test has created enough buzz around it. Both the teams will be looking forward to prove their might. Both the teams look balanced on paper. Bowling line-ups of two sides look ferocious. India will rely heavily on Bumrah and Shami whereas Australia will hope Starc, Cummins, and Hazlewood come out all guns blazing. The major difference in the bowling attack of the teams will be spin. Ashwin’s form in overseas tours is dismal, Jadeja is out of 1st test and Kuldeep is down in confidence. On the other hand, Australia will rely on offie Nathon Lyon to continue his dream run in Australia. The batting of both the teams looks a little bit brittle. The home team will depend on Smith and Labuschagne, with Warner out of this test Australia is struggling to put forward their best batting line-up. Injuries to Will Pucovski and Cameron Green(both suffering Concussion) is not helping the team either. India will play with 3 of its main batsman in this match, Kohli, Pujara, Rahane. Kohli will be looking to score a big one in his last international assignment this year. He has gone century less this year. India is still in a fix for the openers, who will open with Mayank Aggarwal? going by the practice matches it looks like Shubman Gill will make his test debut, but the Kohli-Shastri combo has given us surprises in the past, nothing could be said now. We never know they might field KL Rahul who didn’t even play the practice matches. India would be tempted to play Rishab Pant as the wicket-keeper, owing tom his hundred in the side game vs Australia A, but Wridhiman Saha’s superior keeping skills will keep him in the hunt. If I am asked I will play Saha ahead of Pant purely on the basis of Wicket-keeping skills. In a place like Australia, even one drop catch can cost you the entire match.
All eyes will be on the pitch tomorrow and how it plays under the lights. The Contest between Smith and Bumrah will decide the match and the series. It will be fair to say that we are looking at a ball vs ball series, and batting looks pale in front of the bowlers. Let’s hope we get to witness a cracker of a match.
