India will be playing the all-important four-match Test series against Australia which will decide the course of World Test Championship final race. Australia will look to avenge their last edition's defeat against India as they eye their first series victory on Indian soil in the last 19 years.
Meanwhile, the Australian batting legend Allan Border feels that the four-match Test series against India will be Pat Cummins' real acid test and the final frontier. "That is going to be the acid test for him and the team," Border told ABC Sport.
Tim Pain's sudden axe from the captaincy role ahead of Ashes 2021 debacle gave rise to Australian pace spearhead Cummins. Australian star pacer led the Kangaroos from the front and won the Ashes series 4-0. Cummins followed it with victories against Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa. Cummins-led Aussies also played Sri Lanka and managed to end the series in a 1-1 draw.
Australia's stellar run under Cummins has left Australian in good stead as they are the hot favourites to make their maiden World Test Championship final.
The Border-Gavaskar series will be the last series for both India and Australia in the WTC calendar. However, Australia will lock horns with England in the marquee Ashes next.
"The next 12 months is the real test for that side and Pat's captaincy in particular because India is just about the last frontier for the Australian cricket team.
"We haven't won there very often. It's a hard place to play and a hard place to win and England is the same," the 67-year-old said.
The former Australian skipper said initially he was apprehensive about Cummins leading the Test side but he has ensured that it didn't affect his bowling.
"I was not as keen to see a fast bowler (appointed captain), not necessarily the individual but more just the fact that he's our number-one fast bowler. But he's proved so many people wrong and he's handled that so well," Border said.
"Maybe the make-up of the team has helped, where he's got quite a few senior players that he can bounce things off and they can sort of take over to a certain degree when he's got the ball in his hand when he's bowling.
"I take my hat off to him. He's done fantastically well. They look like a happy side. They're playing very good cricket and that's all you can do as captain," Border concluded.
The first Test of the Border-Gavaskar series will be played in Nagpur while second will be held in New Delhi. The remainder of the matches will be played in Dharamsala and Ahmedabad respectively.
India's squad for first two Test against Australia:
Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, C Pujara, V Kohli, S Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.
Australia's squad
Australia Test squad for India tour: Pat Cummins (capt), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.
The Schedule
India vs Australia, 1st Test- February 9- February 13 at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur
India vs Australia, 2nd Test- February 17-February 21 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
India vs Australia, 3rd Test- March 01 - March 05 at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala
India vs Australia, 4th Test- March 9- March 13 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
