The Indian cricket team caused carnage in the first Test match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy against Australia by scoring a victory by an inning and 132 runs. The home team will be hoping for a similar result when they will face Australia in the second Test of the four-match series at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi from Friday.
It was a one-sided affair in the first Test as Rohit Sharma & Men excelled in all three facets of the game in Nagpur. The major credit for the win goes to the bowling line-up especially the spin trio of Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel.
The Indian team will be hoping to field a similar playing XI in the second Test as well to continue the momentum and rhythm. However, they can make one change by including Shreyas Iyer in the team instead of Suryakumar Yadav. Iyer was ruled out of the first game due to an injury but is now back in the team after regaining his 100% fitness.
Meanwhile, the second Test will offer the last chance for the Australian side to keep their hopes of winning the series and trophy alive. The team needs to work on its batting line-up to make a statement in the Delhi match.
The Kangaroos will also have some changes in their playing XI. After giving the first Test a miss, Mitchell Starc will be making a comeback. Meanwhile, there are doubts over the participation of Josh Hazlewood, Cameron Green, and Matt Renshaw because of injury concerns.
What has happened so far?
In the four-match Test series so far, India has emerged as a dominating side. The first Test saw the visiting skipper Pat Cummins winning the toss and deciding to bat first. The decision did not favor the team much as they collapsed at 177 runs in the first innings owing to the exploits of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin who picked five and three wickets respectively.
Marnus Labuschagne was the batter for Australia with a knock of 49 runs followed by Steve Smith who added 37 runs to the scoreboard. Following the low score, India also faced hiccups and they lost their first five wickets quickly.
However, the team did not have much to worry about as the skipper Rohit Sharma played under pressure to register a stunning international hundred. The captain received support from Jadeja and Axar Patel as they hammered 70 and 84 runs respectively.
The three batters took India to a score of 400 runs and helped the team take the lead of 223 runs. In the third innings, the visitors were expected to put up a spectacular performance but they let the fans down by scoring only 91 runs. The Indian spinners were again in action as Ashwin picked up a whopping five wickets.
Head to Head Record
Australia will be eager to make a comeback to avoid another loss in the Border Gavaskar Trophy
India and Australia have locked horns with each other in a whopping 103 Test matches so far. Australia is leading the head-to-head records with 43 wins to their name while the Indian side has scored a win in 31 matches.
The 28 Test fixtures between the two teams ended in a draw while it was only one game that ended in a tie as both teams scored equal runs at the end of the five-day match.
Key Players
Rohit Sharma (India)
The Indian skipper Rohit Sharma led from the front in the first Test match as he smacked a much-needed century. The Nagpur pitch was not an ideal one for the batters and thus many players struggled to score runs. However, the same was not the case with the opening batter as he looked settled in the middle from the very first ball.
Rohit’s knock of 120 runs off 212 balls helped India score 400 runs in their only batting innings. The skipper is expected to continue the momentum and come up with a good performance in Delhi as well.
Marnus Labuschagne (Australia)
Marnus Labuschagne will be the player to watch out for in the second Test match between Australia and India. The top-ranked Test batter in the ICC rankings failed to perform well in the first Test as he ended up scoring 49 and 17 runs across two innings.
However, it is important for the top-order batter to do well in the second Test for his team to level the scores and keep their hopes of winning the Border Gavaskar trophy alive.
Predicted Playing XI
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc
Prediction
After scoring a massive win in the first Test match, the Indian cricket team will kickstart the second Test with high spirits. Rohit Sharma & Men are expected to continue their all exploits in all the departments be it batting, bowling, or fielding in the second Test as well.
Having said that, Australia is expected to give a tough fight in Delhi. Unlike Nagpur, the pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Nagpur will have something to offer to both the spinners and seamers. Thus, the Australian team will have the chance to pick some rhythm and score a win to level the series.