Starting on December 6 at Adelaide Oval, the second Test between Australia and India starts India leading the series 1-0. Aiming to even the series, Australia will seek to maximise their home conditions but struggle with younger players on their line-up. Important players like Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne must perform particularly well against India’s strong bowling under Jasprit Bumrah. On the other hand, India’s mix of seasoned and new talent—including captain Rohit Sharma and young guns like Yashasvi Jaiswal—will be crucial for their drive to guarantee the series triumph. Match begins at 9:30 AM IST.

Pat Cummins and the Australian cricket team have all eyes set on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy

He has won the ODI World Cup, the Ashes and also the Test Championship mace but the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India remains the “one last” unchecked item in the bucket list of Australia skipper Pat Cummins, who is confident of pulling it off this time despite the opening Test debacle.

Cummins, who made his Test debut in 2011, played a Test against India for the first time in 2017. Since 2014-15, Australia have not won an India series either at home or away. The pacer is determined to change this stat despite the 295-run drubbing in the Perth game last month.

Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood (not playing this Test), Mitchell Marsh, and Nathan Lyon are some of the players, who were part of the 2-0 win back in 2014-15.

From that point onwards, India have won all four series — two at home (2017 and 2023) and two overseas (2018-19, 2020-21).

So, is there pressure on him to win it back this time? “I don’t think it’s pressure. You are playing at home and you want to do well. We know they (India) are a really strong side and lot of us were part of those recent three series (defeats).

The 31-year-old, who has 272 wickets from 63 Tests, didn’t want to compare the Ashes with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) but termed the battle with Indian teams as the most closely contested over the years.

All praise for Nitish Reddy ================ With Rishabh Pant coming in at number five and one among Shubman Gill or Rohit Sharma at number six followed by Washington Sundar and Nitish Reddy, India’s top-order does have a scary look. But Cummins backed his bowlers.

Having captained Reddy in the IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad, Cummins is pretty impressed with the Andhra all-rounder’s seam-up bowling.

 Cummins confirmed that pacer Scott Boland will replace the injured Josh Hazlewood in the playing eleven for the Adelaide game. Also, Mitchell Marsh has been declared fit to bowl.

Cummins agreed that play on the opening day could be a start-stop affair with potential rain threat.

(PTI)