Big picture: SCG showdown to decide Border-Gavaskar Trophy
For a while it looked like India might be able to escape the MCG with a draw. Yashasvi Jaiswal once again proving to be India’s best batter. At the end of that game, Rohit said the juniors still had a bit to learn about Test cricket, but it seems like they’re doing alright. Jaiswal is India’s highest scorer of the series. Nitish Kumar Reddy produced their best moment. Akash Deep has won Steven Smith’s admiration, but he’s out of the Sydney Test with a bad back. India’s vulnerabilities lie elsewhere.
Form Guide
Australia: WDWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
India: LDLWL
In the spotlight: Rohit Sharma and Pat Cummins
Team news: Webster in; Akash out
Mitchell Starc will play in Sydney while managing a side/rib complaint. Webster, who bats right-handed and bowls both medium pace and offspin, will be the third debutant for Australia in this series after Nathan McSweeney and Sam Konstas. He was the highest scorer in the Sheffield Shield last season with 938 runs at 58.62 and took 30 wickets at 29.30.
Australia: 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Sam Konstas, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Beau Webster, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Scott Boland, 11 Nathan Lyon
Mohammed Siraj seemed to bowl better when he was brought in as first change after Bumrah and Akash Deep had built pressure with the new ball. With Akash ruled out with a stiff back, India will have to rejig their bowling attack, with either Prasidh Krishna or Harshit Rana set to replace him.
India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 KL Rahul, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Rishabh Pant, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Prasidh Krishna/Harshit Rana, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj
Pitch and conditions: A good cricket wicket
A day out from the Test match, there was a bit of grass on the SCG pitch. The feedback Cummins has received about it from the two Shield games that took place here this season is that it’s been a “good cricket wicket”, with enough in it for the bowlers, particularly that there’s a bit more pace in it. The weather for the start of the Test is expected to be clear, although there is some rain forecast on the final two days.
Stats and trivia
- Steven Smith is 38 short of 10,000 Test runs. He will join Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting as the only Australians to have got to the mark. He’ll be the second fastest among them, behind Ponting in 196 innings, if he gets there in Sydney.
Quotes
If someone had said 40-45 days ago that we would be in this situation, that we can come to Sydney and draw this series, it’s a good position to be in.
India coach Gautam Gambhir
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo