Preview: Rohit Sharma-led India face visitors from Australia at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium when the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy gets underway on Friday.
India clinched a comfortable innings win in Nagpur in the first Test of the series last week and Australia are hoping to plan a comeback of sorts in the national capital to level the series 1-1.
Indian spinners dominated action in Nagpur with R Ashwin scalping eight wickets while Ravindra Jadeja picked seven wickets on his return to international cricket from injury.
India held a 223-run lead after posting 400 in response to Australia’s first innings of 177 overall, but the Aussies’ batting performance was far from impressive as they pooled for 91, giving India the win by one inning and 132 runs .
Shreyas Iyer, who missed the ODI series against New Zealand with a back injury, was declared fit and joined the Team India squad in Delhi ahead of the second Test.
However, it is unlikely that he will be named in the second test in the play.
Veteran Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara will contest his 100th Test next Friday, with the 35-year-old becoming the 13th Indian to accomplish the feat, most recently ahead of Virat Kohli against Sri Lanka in March 2022.
Pujara has a commendable record against Australia, having recorded 1,900 runs from 21 Tests with a 52.77 average.
Going back to the first Test, debutant Todd Murphy was the Australian bowlers’ choice and took seven wickets, while skippers Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon picked two and one wicket respectively. Australia will be hoping for a very disciplined effort from their bowling, especially after the hosts managed to post 400 from 229/6 at one stage of the first Test.
teams:
India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Ishan Kishan (wk).
Australia: Pat Cummins (Captain), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Alex Carey (wk), Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscombe, Nathan Lyon, Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Lance Morris, Mitchell Swepson, Todd Murphy, Josh Hazlewood (n/a), Cameron Green (n/a), Mitchell Starc (from 2nd Test).
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