IND vs AUS, 1st Test: Battle of big guns

India set sights on WTC final as they face Australia in first Test in Nagpur from today; visitors eye revenge

Nagpur: Rohit Sharma, a bonafide white-ball legend, will face his biggest test as India’s red-ball captain against a determined Australian side which would be hungry for revenge when the much-awaited Border-Gavaskar series starts here Thursday.

It is a series that promises a lot of twists and turns, engrossing sub-plots and probably career-defining performances. It’s such a high-profile rubber that non-performance could lead to end of career for some after this series.

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Trust this four-Test series to throw up more surprises than one can possibly envisage. The series, a cricket connoisseurs’ delight, will throw up several topics of discussion as the caravan moves from one destination to the other. Will captain Rohit Sharma curb his instinct to pull Pat Cummins if the Australian captain keeps a long leg and digs one short? Will Virat Kohli use the sweep shot more often against Ashton Agar and Nathan Lyon as the batting stalwart looks to turn around his ordinary showing against slow bowlers in recent times?

Can Suryakumar Yadav’s ‘three-dimensional’ strokeplay earn him Rahul Dravid’s faith ahead of Shubman Gill, the man touted to lead India’s batting when the transition phase kicks-in in another 18 to 24 months?

Will Axar Patel’s under-cutters be more effective than Kuldeep Yadav’s trickeries of bringing the ball back into right handers? The back-to-back series defeats in their own den (2018-19 and 2020-21) have hurt Cummins and his players and they certainly have revenge on its mind, even though it will be easier said than done on a pitch that promises appreciable turn from first day itself.

The quality of India versus Australia Test matches since the epic 2001 series has, at times, been better than the Ashes. The journey of this batch of Australian cricketers won’t be complete if they don’t emulate the exploits of the Matthew Haydens, Justin Langers, Glenn McGraths or the Adam Gilchrists of 2004.

Steve Smith put it aptly, saying a series win in India will be bigger than the Ashes. For Rohit, who has unfortunately missed all the Test matches or series against bigger teams either due to injuries (hamstring vs South Africa and split webbing vs Bangladesh in 2022) or illness (Covid-19 vs England in the one-off game), would like to emulate his predecessor Kohli in leading the team to another World Test Championship final.

For that to happen, India will need a clear two-match victory margin and Rohit’s biggest weapon of execution will be his quartet of spinners, out of which three are supposed to play.

Not to forget, his batters need to rise up to Nathan Lyon’s challenge. The hosts haven’t been up to scratch when they play slow bowlers on rank turners. Those who have followed the developments in Indian cricket, know that Rohit was initially reluctant to take up red-ball captaincy and is yet to face any major opposition as leader in the format.

For Australia, it seems, Ashton Agar with better lower-order batting abilities, will get the nod as Lyon’s spin partner ahead of Mitchell Swepson, as Scott Boland prepared to share the new ball with his skipper.

The Australian team is loaded with left handers and four of them – David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Travis Head and Alex Carey – are almost certain to play. The two right handers will be Smith and Marnus Labuschagne. But in Cameron Green’s absence, the choice for an additional batter will be between the right-handed Peter Handscombe and southpaw Matt Renshaw.