Australia has won the toss and chosen to bat in the first Test against India. Virat Kohli’s team have included Jayant Yadav in the playing XI while Australia have gone with two spinners in Pune’s debut Test
Australia has won the toss and decided to bat in the first Test of the four-match series against India at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Thursday. (LIVE BLOG)
This is the first time that a Test will be played In Pune, which is the fourth new Test venue of the six to have been unveiled this season by the BCCI. (SCORECARD)
There weren’t too many changes made to Indian side that beat Bangladesh in the one-off Test match at Hyderabad.
Off-spinner Jayant Yadav has come back in the side in place of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Australia has opted to go with two specialist spinners — Steve O’Keefe and Nathan Lyon — which means Mitchell Swepson, despite spin wizard Shane Warne backing his credentials, will have to wait for his debut.
Though pitch curator Pandurang Salgaoncar had stated that the pitch would have good bounce and should “fly past batsmen”, Kohli’s selection of Jayant Yadav ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar suggests that there has been fair amount of experimentation on the pitch by the three curators to make it tailor-made to suit the Indian conditions and help the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
There is a paltry crowd in the stands so far, which is expected to increase as the day proceeds.
Australia: David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Shaun Marsh, Steven Smith(c), Peter Handscomb, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade(w), Mitchell Starc, Steve O’Keefe, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
India: Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma