The wait is over and Rohit Sharma's brigade are up against Pat Cummins & Co. as Australia won the toss and opted to bat first in the Border Gavaskar series opener at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Thursday (February 9).
Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav ans Srikar Bharat made Test debut for India while Australia handed Baggy Green to Todd Murphy.
Notably, Australia haven't won a Test series in India for the past 19 years.
“We would have batted too. Looks pretty dry. There will be help for spinners. We got to wait and see how much it does. Yesterday when we started we did see some seam movement for the pacers up front. We have had a good prep for the last 5-6 days. We trained on the aspects in store. This is a big one. We know the importance of the series but we also understand it's about winning one session at a time. It's a long series. Three spinners, two seamers, Bharat and Suryakumar Yadav are debuting,” India skipper Rohit said before the match.
“We are going to bat. Looks like a pretty even wicket towards the middle. 2017 was a big series. Can't wait to get this started. We have had good preparation. We feel we are really well placed. Two changes Todd Murphy in. Handscomb in for Travis Head,” Australian captain said after winning the toss.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.
Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Scott Boland.
Pitch report
"My first reaction is the soil looks pretty rough. You can see the cracks as well, but because there is grass the cracks may stay intact. But the real talking point here is the rough area right here - the left-hander against the left-arm spinner, it's going to be a nightmare for them because there is tremendous potential for the left-armer spinner," Sanjay Manjrekar analysed the pitch.
Meanwhile, Matthew Hayden proposed his thought by looking at the pitch and said,"This match could well finish early. It's not just this patch here (as Sanjay spoke about). It's the other end as well. Check out the tone difference between here - on a hard length for fast bowlers - and on this danger area - the spinning zone. You've got rough, you've got shaved grass, and it's ironic that the roller and the grass that was being cut here was just shavings of dust because it's going to be a turner."
