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OVERS 15.5: BIG HIT! Ajinkya Rahane comes down the pitch and hits a Nathan Lyon delivery over wide long-on for the first six of the match
OVERS 10.3: BIG WICKET! Virat Kohli (3) drives from way outside off stump and edges to gully where Usman Khawaja dives to his left to take a fantastic catch. Pat Cummins strikes in his first over. India 19/3
Ten overs gone and Pat Cummins has been introduced in the attack
OVERS 6.6: WICKET! Starc comes over the wicket and induces the edge off Vijay’s bat to be caught behind by Tim Paine. The second opener falls for 11. India 15/2
OVERS 5.5: FOUR! Vijay reaches out wide of off stump and slashes and slashes it hard through gully for his first boundary
OVERS 1.6: WICKET! Rahul (2) edges to third slip for Aaron Finch to take the catch. Hazlewood gets the first breakthrough for Australia
OVERS 1.4: Vijay flicks to mid-wicket for a single to get off the mark
Josh Hazlewood shares the new ball with Starc, Vijay on strike
OVER 0.4: Rahul flicks to deep mid-wicket for two, gets off the mark
Murali Vijay and Lokesh Rahul walk out to open the innings for India. Mitchell Starc to start for Australia. ALL SET!
Indian captain Virat Kohli has won the toss and opted to bat against Australia at the Adelaide Oval.
Rohit Sharma will bat at six, Hanuma Vihari misses out for India.
India (Playing XI): Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Capt.), Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami
Australia (Playing XI): Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Tim Paine (wk/Capt.), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon
An Indian team brimming with confidence will aim to finally shed the poor travellers’ tag when it takes on a circumspect Australia in what is being perceived as the tourists’ best opportunity to win a Test series Down Under in 70 years.
While the narrative remained same during the earlier tours of South Africa (1-2) and England (1-4), Virat Kohli and his men will like to walk the talk as India’s tough cycle of away assignment ends with this four-Test series beginning at the Adelaide Oval.
The series is even more important for Kohli as it would also define his legacy as a leader having already established himself as world’s premier batsman.
India’s past Test record in Australia is quite abysmal. In 44 Tests on Australian soil, they have only managed five wins thus far.
In 70 years and over 11 tours, only two drawn series, under Sunil Gavaskar in 1980-81 and with Sourav Ganguly in charge in 2003-04 is more a reflection of temperament of touring sides over the years rather than quality.
Source : timesofindia
