Published: Jan 15, 2021, 05:25 AM (IST)
Edited: Jan 15, 2021, 11:01 AM (IST)
Australia captain Tim Paine won the toss and opted to bat first against India in the fourth and final Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy at The Gabba in Brisbane on Friday. The series is currently level at one-all.
India expectedly have made as many as four changes – all forced. Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Hanuma Vihari are all sitting out due to various injuries. They have given debuts to T Natarajan and Shardul Thakur while Mayank Agarwal is back and Shardul Thakur has been given a game as well.
“We had to make changes, but it’s opportunity for others. Looking forward to start well. Both the debutants play the shorter formats, just want them to enjoy the game,” India captain Ajinkya Rahane said at the toss.
Australia had already confirmed their playing XI on Thursday with Marcus Harris coming in for the injured Will Pucovski. Paine expects the pitch to be good for batting at least for the first two days.
“It’s a bit dry and you can see a few cracks already, but should be a good pitch to bat for the first two days,” Paine said.
Natarajan’s storied rise continues with the left-arm pacer making his debut on the tour across formats after initially being selected as a net bowler. He has been impressive in the white-ball matches with the Indian team management hopeful he can replicate that in the longer format as well.
On the other hand, Sundar played in all the three matches of the T20I series that India won 2-1.
Playing XIs
Australia XI: Tim Paine (captain), David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Cameron Green, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood.
India XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Rishabh Pant(w), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, T Natarajan
