The Test series between Australia and India will finally kick-start on Tuesday with the first Test and you can follow the live blog of game from the Adelaide Oval starting 10.30 am local time.
The sad passing away of Phil Hughes overshadowed the start of this first Test that was earlier supposed to start off five days ago.
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What it has also done from a cricketing perspective is to blunt any kind of pre-series nastiness that can be expected when two cricketing rivals of this magnitude go head-to-head.
The pre-match press conferences have been inevitably docile and what must now be seen is if the performances on the field get affected by the tragic events in the lead-up to this game.
The extra five days have also allowed Australian captain Michael Clarke to recover from his hamstring injury and he will now lead the side in this first Test match. As a result, Shaun Marsh misses out of the XI, while Josh Hazlewood will need to wait awhile before making his Test debut after the selectors named Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle to partner Mitchell Johnson with the new ball.
The rest of the side is on expected lines after the selectors had earlier named a 13-man squad. Shane Watson will be replacing Alex Doolan at the number three spot.
Australia have fallen behind in the race to the number one ranking in Tests; so much so that even a 4-0 whitewash will not help them recapture that top spot from South Africa.
A 2-0 defeat at the hands of Pakistan was painful to take but it came in conditions as different from those back home as pavlova is from kheer, and it shouldn’t be much of a concern for them in this series.
Indian captain MS Dhoni was also expected to miss the first Test when it was to begin on December 4 and as things stand, despite being a regular presence in the Indian nets in the lead-up to this match, he has been ruled out of this Test match.
Stand-in skipper Virat Kohli gets his first chance to lead the Indian Test side and it couldn’t have come under tougher conditions – playing Australia in Australia isn’t the easiest of propositions for a team from the sub-continent and having come off a 3-1 drubbing at the hands of England makes the job even tougher for India.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar will also miss out this game – and there’s every chance he could be ruled out of the second Test too – because of an ankle injury, which puts the onus on Ishant Sharma, Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami to take up the bowling attack.
The Adelaide track is known to be bit of a batting paradise and India could opt to play just three speedsters and one frontline spinner in R Ashwin.
The selectors, therefore, will need to decide which three out of the four quick bowlers will make the playing XI and what will be the balance of the side – do they bring in an extra bowler/bowling all-rounder at number six or play a frontline batsman.
Ravindra Jadeja has a decent overall bowling record in Test cricket but he picked up just nine wickets in England at 47, not the kind of figures a captain would like from his second spinner. The other option that Kohli has is to bring in Karn Sharma who picked up a total of six wickets over the two warm-up games India played.
Karn isn’t much of a batsman and it could seriously weaken the Indian batting line-up. An extra batsman is worth looking at but a lot will depend on what captain Kohli’s mindset currently is.
The last time these two sides played at the Adelaide Oval was in 2012, and Australia had piled on the agony with a score of 604 batting first. Kohli did manage a century but India were bowled out for 272 and set to chase down 501 in the final innings, the visitors managed just 201 in their second dig.
The visitors will be hoping to prevent a repeat of that rout.
Join me for the first day of this first Test between Australia and India on Tuesday here and you can follow the live score of this game from 11:00am (AEDT) and post your comments in the section below.
arif
Guest
Best
Raj
Guest
im disappointed with the Indian team. its the weakest team weve had in the past decade lacking experience....bring back experienced players like yuvraj harbhajan zaheer gambhir if India wants to win test matches gainst good sides like australia...INdians will get hammered by the aussies in this series
Bobbo7
Guest
Only because he got dropped about 90 times by England who were a rabble
Bobbo7
Guest
Haddin is massively overrated. Wade having a poor series seemed to allow everyone to forget that Haddin was an average keeper at best and clearly offers nothing with the bat. It is also the way he goes out. Just swings Ben when the tram needs so nuggets effort.
Jimmy
Roar Rookie
Haddin is so obviously past it, but now with Clarke's injury it's hard to see them dropping him during this series. Again Warner shows that he's a class above any other opening batsman in the world at the moment and Smith just keeps churning out big scores would love to see him make a big hundred or a double tomorrow if the tail enders can stick around a bit. To me Smith looks like he's starting to forge a sort of Hussey role to the team; great fielder, great leader and can score runs not only when those have done the job before him a la Warner and Clarke on the 1st day but also seems to be able to get us out of the stink a lot. Such a shame about Clarke he was looking in great touch let's hope it's not too serious.
Shortfineleg
Guest
Put the half blind shuffling hairy nose wombat Haddin out to pasture.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Haddin has been passed it for years. It was Wades failure with the gloves and a perceived lack of support for Clarke that is the only reason Haddin's test career was resurrected. Really after Wade's failure we should have picked another keeper.
Antiwhippy
Guest
I've seen haddin missed some absolute sitters in SA and the UAE. Not entirely sure I would keep him as a keeper at this point.
Shortfineleg
Guest
NSP not doing their job. Their keepers - Haddin and Wade are the worst option.
Scuba
Guest
If the Test keeper was picked on keeping ability Haddin wouldn't be anywhere near the team. Hartley is (or at least over the last 5 years has been) the best keeper in the country but his first class average of 31 with the bat apparently isn't good enough to get him a game.
Nudge
Guest
Spot on Tom
Tom from Perth
Roar Rookie
Or the fact he's a 'keeper and is still good at that. I'd have replaced Haddin for this series though, no doubt.
Bluebag
Guest
Aaron looked green but quick and dangerous if he gets it on line. Very Norman Cowans for those who can remember..
Nudge
Guest
Yep fair call Ronan. I just remember last year when everyone was saying when Australia were batting that 450 was par. We made 550 plus, and the poms were rolled for 170 odd. Also in Brisbane everyone was saying that par was 400, and I remember Swann in his press conference saying how delighted they were in the dressing rooms with the Aussies about 8 for 270 at stumps. We then saw on a supposed belter the poms were rolled for 130 odd.
Silver Sovereign
Roar Rookie
That's a pretty astounding that. wow......five years for that bad an average. The only reason he is still there is that he is mates with Clarke and happens to wear a blue cap.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
Great first days play, honours even I reckon. This is a great batting wicket. Hope MJ can get stuck in and build a good partnership with Smith, he will need to. India will be delighted to get a couple of late wickets. Hads well out of form with the bat. I wonder if he is now under real pressure, plenty of good options. Boof doesn't strike me as someone who would change keepers mid series. Australia need another 100 runs to see off India I think.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
There is a case to be made that Haddin's Ashes heroics last summer were an anomaly. I just crunched the numbers and, over the past five years, Haddin has averaged just 23 with the bat across 33 Tests (excluding those 5 Ashes Tests last summer).
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Nudge, Adelaide is probably the one Test venue in the world with the most recent history of teams losing after making big first innings scores. That is not to say that India would be on top if they bowled Australia out for 400. Rather I'm arguing that this pitch is playing so well that 400 would be a bit below par and would give India a chance of winning. If Australia can make 450-plus then I'd give India zero chance of manufacturing a victory.
Bobbo7
Guest
Haddin is well past it. Offers very little with the bat these days and was lucky England could not catch in the last Ashes. And it's not like he is a super keeper eithet
Silver Sovereign
Roar Rookie
other than the Ashes series where he was dropped quite often by an England with low morale, Haddin has had a shocking couple of years. This series should have been about picking the next keeper in time for World cup and ashes. Poor Lyon was on a hiding to nothing there. As I suspected the batting is being left to Warner and Smith who have been carrying this side for 3 straight series.