India’s batters hope to better returns
- Australia have a couple of injury concerns
- India are missing key batters
India are without Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant for the Test (Pant for the entire series), two of their best Test batters in the last couple of years. However, at home, with their spinners in full bloom, India will back themselves. India have odds of 1.80 to win the first Test.
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Australia will be without their premier quicks Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood for this Test. They, however, will bank on their batters to counter India’s spin attack and carry one of the strongest batting line-ups to recently visit India. Australia have odds of 3.41 to win this match.
India’s outrageous Test record
India have only lost two Test matches at home in the last decade – Australia in 2017 and England in 2021 are the only teams to beat them at home in this period. However, this Indian line-up has shown vulnerabilities with the bat at home in recent times and the Aussies will look to exploit that.
Our pick: India’s batting remains suspect, but their bowling is well and truly world-class. Back India at 1.80 to win this one!
Australia, in the absence of Starc and Hazlewood, have quite a task against India’s batters… They have carried four spinners in the squad but only two are likely to play the first Test at least.
Keep an eye on…
Nathan Lyon and his battle with Virat Kohli should make for a fantastic contest. The spinner has dismissed Kohli seven times in Tests, the joint-most by anyone and Kohli’s recent aversion to spin makes this an interesting contest.
Ravindra Jadeja returns to the Test side and is an invaluable all-rounder in the setup. His bowling will threaten Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne primarily, but he also adds value with the bat, making him India’s most important player in this series.
