Australia put their Test resurgence on the line as they travel to India for cricket's toughest of away dates.The tourists are out to achieve more than respectability, and we can also expect fireworks between these hyper-competitive outfits.
India vs Australia | First Test | Thursday 9 February 2023 – Monday 13 February | VCA Stadium, Nagpur 06:00
To Win Match
India 72/100 | Draw 17/4 | Australia 24/10
There is no time that an India team are not under pressure at home but with a World Test Championship final berth in the balance their public expects the visitors to be steamrolled.
Nagpur has become synonymous with dust bowls and the first looks at the pitch at the VCA Stadium have done little to assuage the belief that this will be a rank turner.
That will bring its own challenges for the India batters who find themselves playing for the places in this team, as they could fall victim to the tourists’ world-class attack. KL Rahul comes to mind as the man on the bubble.
Early indications are that India will be stacking their bowling with spinners, nonetheless we could still see Kuldeep Yadav miss out with Axar Patel, Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja also in the squad.
While Nathan Lyon is the clear first name of the teamsheet, Australia have some big calls to make regarding their own spinners.
They have brought plenty with Aston Agar, Mitchell Swepson and Todd Murphy back-up spin options.
Australia should have at least one paceman in the lineup in Pat Cummins but he might have to make a tough call on which of Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc to bench for an extra spinner.
Cameron Green provides Australia with an additional pace option which will factor into the thinking and his batting might just be the key to a counterattacking performance.
Verdict: India 72/100
India at home on a rank turner, there should be only one winner. Big value at 72/100.
