Australia vs India, the marquee series of the year, is all set to begin Friday at the Optus Stadium, Perth. The two cricketing powerhouses are all set to throw punches at each other during the course of the next 45 days and it will be interesting to note who will be the last man standing.
India has had their wood on Australia in the last decade and the latter has managed to win only two Test matches out of the last 10 against the former despite playing at home since 2014. We look at the current form, head-to-head, players to look out for, and squads of both teams in our match preview.
Current form of India: L L L W W
India is definitely under the pump after they were clean swept 0-3 by New Zealand despite playing at home. The Indian batters haven’t been at their best and they certainly need to come up with a better performance against Australia to keep their team in the contest.
Current form of Australia: W W L W W
Australia played their last Test series against New Zealand, which they won by 2-0. The Aussies will look to be at their best against India and come up with a collective effort against the opponents, who have given them a tough time in the last decade.
Head to Head: Matches: 107, Won by Australia: 45, Won by India: 32, Draw: 29.
Players to watch out for: Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, and Rishabh Pant will hold the key for India.
Pat Cummins, Josh Hazelwood, Mitchell Starc, Travis Head, Steve Smith, and Marnus Labuschagne will be the crucial players for the hosts.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (C), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (Wk), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (Wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc.
