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[VIDEO] Australia vs India highlights: Brisbane Test cricket live scores, blog

16th December, 2014
Australia XI:
Smith, Haddin, Starc, Johnson, Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Rogers, Hazlewood, Warner, Watson, Shaun Marsh

India XI (probable)
Aaron, Karn, Dhawan, Ashwin, Kohli, Umesh, Pujara, Rahane, Dhoni, Ishant, Vijay

Time: 10:30am (AEDT)
Venue: The Gabba
TV: Live, Channel Nine
Virat Kohli and his attitude are key to India's success. (AFP PHOTO / SAEED KHAN)
Roar Guru
16th December, 2014
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14509 Reads

India’s performance in Adelaide gives cricket fans hope this will be a fighting second Test match as Australia take on India in Brisbane. You ​can ​follow the live blog of the first day’s play from the Gabba in Brisbane starting at ​11:00am (AEDT).​

India were on the verge of pulling off a special win at Adelaide.

AUSTRALIA VS INDIA: DAY FOUR LIVE SCORES

While it will be easy to blame captain Virat Kohli for being overly aggressive towards the end of the game, it needed to be his decision as to how the Indians approached the chase in the third session.

Tactically, it could have been handled a tad better, with one of the two batsmen at the crease at any time dropping anchor and the other continuing the massacre. Unfortunately for India, all batsmen went for their shots and once Kohli had mis-executed a stroke against off-spinner Nathan Lyon, it was all over.

Lyon must be feeling pretty relieved too. After coming into the Test with the pressure of not having won Australia a Test on the last day of games, he exploited the conditions to a tee. Once the Kohli-Murali Vijay stand was broken, the rest of the Indian batsmen failed to hold up against Lyon.

The Gabba will be a more stringent test for the Indian batsmen, who had a very respectable time at the crease in Adelaide. In Brisbane, life may not be as easy, what with the excellent record that the Aussies have here to go with the extra bounce that the visitors will need to counter.

Australia have not lost a Test in Brisbane since 1988. That’s quite a record to have but with the visiting teams often struggling against the extra bounce, Australia have run away with the match on many an occasion.

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More vitally, the Indian batsmen are known to have overcome their problems with pace, but that few extra inches of bounce have often caused havoc.

Mitchell Johnson, who bordered on being lethargic in Adelaide, could suddenly come to life at Brisbane. His battle against the Indian batsmen will be an enthralling one.

Interestingly, there will be two new bowlers partnering him for this Test as Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood have been called up as replacements for the injured Ryan Harris and the struggling Peter Siddle.

Starc bowled a few decent spells in the UAE against Pakistan before being dropped again and he has a chance to prove his case in lively conditions. Hazlewood, on the other hand, has been chosen on the basis of his good form in white-ball cricket; how he goes on his Test debut will be something to watch.

Shaun Marsh has been drafted into the line-up as well, following the injury to Michael Clarke and it could well be an important Test for the southpaw given how his selection polarises fans.

India have changes of their own. The obvious one will be MS Dhoni replacing Wriddhiman Saha following a neat little break from the game, which the Indian fans will be hoping brings some fresh ideas to his captaincy.

There are questions around a few other spots. Shikhar Dhawan’s form hasn’t been the greatest and even accounting for a poor decision he got in the second innings, his place in the side isn’t tenable.

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Rohit Sharma was steady in the first innings but the softness of his dismissal and the manner of batting in the second leads to questions about his temperament.

And then there’s Karn Sharma. His selection made a lot of sense as a second spinner in the side at Adelaide but to push him for his debut as the lone slow-bowler in Adelaide was a risky move that failed. Will he get another chance or will India bring their tried and tested spinner in R Ashwin back into the line-up?

Join me for ​the first day of this second Test between Australia ​and India. You can follow the live score of this game from ​11:00am (AEDT) and post your comments ​below.

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