The much-awaited Border-Gavaskar series between India versus Australia Test is about to start on 9th February. These four Test matches are a part of the ICC 2021/23 Test Championship cycle.
Indian team needs to win this series to qualify for the second successive finals. BCCI announced the squad for the first two Test matches. Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the first Test match due to a back injury and precautionary measures.
Star-all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been given clearance and will the Indian team for a short preparatory camp starting on 3 February. Indian team would fancy their chances as their spinners Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav can create an impact.
On the other, Australia will be high on confidence as won the Test series on Pakistan soil by 1-0 and drew the Test series against Sri Lanka 1-1 away from home. They have certainly qualified for the ICC Test Championship finals with their dominating performance against West Indies and South Africa.
The last time, Australia visited Indian shores for the Border-Gavaskar series, Kangaroos won the first Test at Pune by a massive margin before losing the second Test match at Bangalore. After drawing the third match at Ranchi, India produced a brilliant performance in the final Test match at Dharamshala.
It promises to be an exciting series between the top two Test teams in the World. India will be looking to dominate the Aussies team by producing spin pitches that suit Indian spinners. Under the captaincy of Pat Cummins, Australia would look to end the 19-year drought of winning the Test series on Indian soil.
Mitchell Starc has been ruled out of the first Test match at Nagpur.
Australia squad
David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Matt Renshaw, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (WK), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins ©. Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood.
Indian squad for first two Test matches
Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Surya Kumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.
Schedule for the Test series between India and Australia
- India versus Australia (VCA Stadium, Nagpur)- 9th -13th Feb
- India versus Australia (Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi)- 17th-21st Feb
- India versus Australia (HPCA Stadium, Dharmshala)- 1st -5th
- India versus Australia (Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad)- 9th-13th March
The matches would begin from 9.30 AM onwards and hope to see a cracking contest between these two teams.
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