Australia have landed in India with the aim of winning their first Test series in India after 19 years; with the aim of defending their number 1 ranked ICC Test team crown; with the aim of sealing their spot in the World Test Championship final; and with the aim of cementing the legacy of some of their all-time greats and one of the best team they have ever had.
They face a few challenges: they have to deal with injuries (Starc and Hazlewood are out of the first Test and Green is not fit to bowl full-throttle yet due to a finger injury); and there’s the matter of India’s incredible home dominance, which has seen them not lost a series in the past 10 years, and have lost only 2 home Tests.
Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Here is Australia’s predicted playing XI for the first Test in Nagpur :
Openers: David Warner, Usman Khawaja
Middle-order: Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head
Wicket-keeper: Alex Carey
Australia’s batting order is certain, barring any late injury, ahead of the first Test in Nagpur. In Labuschagne, Steve Smith, and Khawaja, they have three batters who are in the top 10 ICC Test batsman rankings, with Labuschagne and Smith occupying the top 2 spots.
Since the start of 2021, Khawaja is the leading Test run-scorer with 1275 runs at 29, notching up 5 centuries. Labuschagne and Smith (once again together) are 5th and 6th in this tally with averages of 57 and 61 respectively and with 7 hundreds between them.
In this same period, Travis Head averaged 51 while Carey averaged 48. Warner, though, hasn’t had the best of times since last year, averaging a mediocre 29. However, a double century against South Africa at the MCG must have brought back his mojo.
A challenge against R Ashwin and co., though, remains the toughest one which the Australian batters will face.
All-rounder: Cameron Green
Australia have a bit of a conundrum here: Cameron Green, due to his finger injury, is not allowed to bowl in the first Test. So do Australia go in with Green as a specialist batter – which is the expected scenario – or do they bring in a proper batsman in Matthew Renshaw, who played in Sydney vs South Africa in place of Green.
At the moment, it seems that Green will play as a pure batter, his half-centuries last year in Lahore and Galle makes a strong case.
“We value his batting first and foremost really, he’s a batter in our top six and we value that, his bowling is a bonus. A very nice bonus,” coach Andrew McDonald said.
Renshaw’s inclusion also will add another left-hander, so he’s unlikely to get in ahead of Green.
Bowlers: Pat Cummins (C), Ashton Agar, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
With Hazlewood and Starc ruled out of the first Test, Scott Boland – who has a stunning bowling average of 12 in 6 home Tests – is primed to play his first overseas Test and partner Cummins and Lyon. This also means that Australia are unlikely to go in with a third pacer given the inexperience of Lance Morris and also the spin-friendly track in Nagpur.
Australia have some thinking to do regarding the second spinner’s spot: leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson, who played in 2 Tests in Pakistan and 2 in Sri Lanka, or left-arm orthodox Ashton Agar, who featured in the Sydney Test against South Africa.
That Agar played in Sydney, which is the most Asian pitch in Australia, and also adds batting depth tilts the scales in his favor.
Australia’s predicted XI for the first Test against India:
David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Pat Cummins (C), Ashton Agar, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
India and Australia Squads for Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023:
Australia Test squad for the tour of India: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (VC), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.
India Squad for the first two matches: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Shubman Gill, C Pujara, V Kohli, S Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.
Unavailable for first Test: Shreyas Iyer, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood
