the Sidney Cricket Ground (SCG) where the fourth Test match is going to be played Source

The Test match beginning on 3rd January at the SCG (Sidney) this year will be the last match of the Border-Gavaskar Series between India and Australia. India leads the series 2-1 going into the Test and is on the cusp of a never before chance Test series victory on Australian soil. Their quest began with the first tour of Australia in 1947-48, a few weeks more than 71 years ago. The best results that India has secured on the Australian tours so far have been three drawn series. This time, however, the Indian team is a lot more competitive than the teams that visited Australia before.

The teams of yore mostly relied on their batting strength and on their spinners to overcome the Australians on their turf. More often than not, the Indian batsmen found the pace and bounce in the Australian wickets difficult to deal with given that the wickets that they played on were more placid. The Australians, on the other hand, had a battery of pace bowlers right through who could exploit the home conditions to the optimum and they still do have. For the most part of the sixties and the seventies, the opening bowlers for India used to be part-time slow medium pacers with a spinner mostly taking the ball in the very second over of the inning. The Australian batsmen had only to negotiate Indian spinners on wickets that the latter was not too familiar with.

The Indian pace bowlers have bowled exceedingly well through 2018 Source

Unlike then, this time the Indian contingent comprises of fast bowlers who are as potent as the Australian pace trio. The Indian team now relies much more on their pacers than on the spinners to get the opposition out twice in a Test match. Currently, India has a bigger problem with the performances of the batters. Though the batting strength of the squad looks impressive on paper, none have them have delivered on away tours other than Virat Kohli and Chateshwar Pujara in 2018. The opening pair of M Vijay and KL Rahul has been a disaster over the year, to say the least, and was overlooked for the third Test match at Melbourne.

Reading the wicket at Sidney correctly will be the key to how the team managements constitute their playing eleven. Historically, the Sidney pitch is known to assist spinners while the fast bowlers can expect some help on the first day and in the morning sessions of play. However, this year has been one of the warmest in Australia’s recorded history. Whatever moisture is there in the pitch could dry up pretty quickly in the heat that will prevail during the days. From what Virat Kohli has said after the third Test at Melbourne, India’s aim will be to win the final test in Sidney rather than to aim for a draw. Australia has no other option than to go for a win to try and draw the series.

Ashwin Ravichandran is most likely to be in the playing eleven for India while Aaron Finch will retain his place in the Australian side
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The Indian team management will stick with the with the opening current pair of Mayank Agarwal and Hanuma Vihari. Though Vihari did not score very many runs and was knocked on the head once by Cummins in the first inning, he has shown that he has the gumption and the temperament to see off the new ball. Pujara, Kohli and Rahane select themselves in their respective places. Rohit Sharma who batted at no six in the last match has returned home to be with his family due to the birth of his first child, a daughter. Ravichandran Ashwin will come into the slot, but bat after Jadeja, if fit. Jadeja and Pant will retain their places while none will even think of replacing Bumrah, Sharma and Shami. Hardik Pandya has a very little chance of making it on to the pitch because of his lack of practice matches after his long layoff due to an injury sustained in the UAE during the Asia Cup.

The Australians too have problems with their batting lineup and have included Marnus Labuschagne in their squad. The leg-spinner all-rounder will most likely replace Mitchell Marsh, whose batting in the Melbourne Test has been unimpressive even though he bowled well. Labuschagne could be a bigger reliever to the trio of Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins on a spin-friendly wicket than was Marsh at Melbourne. As has been indicated by the captain Paine and coach Justin Langer, Finch will continue to open the batting at least in this Test. There are unlikely to be any further changes in the Australian playing eleven if only for want of abler replacements.

Marnus Labuschagne is most likely to replace a Mitchell Marsh who is struggling with the bat

The toss also will be an important factor at Sidney given that teams batting first here have won the matches 44.4 per cent of the time and lost only 22.2 per cent of the Test matches in the last 10 years. India has won only one Test match, lost four and drawn of the total ten matches played at Sidney so far. A good score in the first inning by the team batting first will, on this ground, could be decisive in the end. But since the Indian team management has professed that they are going into the Test match to win, it makes no sense in trying to bolster their batting. If the first six Indian batsmen perform anywhere close to their potential, the Indian bowlers have amply demonstrated their ability to bowl the opponents out on all types of wickets over the last calendar year.

Do you have any opinions on the who else could be included or left out by India and Australia? Do let me know in your comments below.