Adelaide: Captain Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Ravichandran Ashwin are back in India’s playing eleven. The visitors won the toss and elected to bat first against Australia in the day-night Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at the Adelaide Oval on Friday.

India is leading the five-match series 1-0 after winning the series opener in Perth by 295 runs. Rohit, who missed the Perth Test due to the birth of his second child, will bat at number six, while Gill is slotted at his usual number three spot, and Ashwin will be India’s lone specialist spinner.

The trio come in place of Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel and Washington Sundar. “It looks like a good pitch. It obviously looks a little dry at the moment, but there’s enough grass covering it as well. I have been here for two weeks, and ready to go now.

“The mood is good, pretty vibrant. What the boys did in Perth was superb. It’s a long series, we’ll try and do most things right. The fast bowlers are happy (with the long break between Tests). We want to carry from where we left.

“I guess it will have some carry for the fast bowlers, but as the game goes on, it will get better to bat, and there will be something in it for everyone. I’m batting in the middle order, which is different, but I’m ready for the challenge,” he said.

Australia confirmed their lone change on the eve of the Test match: Seamer Scott Boland will replace Josh Hazlewood, who is out due to a side strain.

Australia is unbeaten in its seven pink-ball matches in Adelaide, while India plays a day-night Test match for the first time since March 2022.

“That’s right (we would have liked to bat first). But on day one, pink ball, there might be a bit of nip there for us. It’s good to have a fresh start. It’s a venue we really love playing at. The pink ball can be a little bit different than the red ball. Everyone can look back at the success they’ve had in past games. We weren’t at our best last week, but we’re itching to get out there,” said skipper Pat Cummins.

Playing XIs-

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.

Australia: Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

–IANS

Photo Credit: X/BCCI