Australia will have another debutant in their playing XI, while India will probably make one change in their playing XI in Sydney to draw the Border Gavaskar Trophy
SCG Showdown will decide the Border Gavaskar Trophy – From the first test match witnessing the fall of 17 wickets in Perth, the second test match witnessing the early collapse of India’s batting lineup in the first innings, to the third test getting ruined by the rain & experiencing an unexpected retirement, and fourth test bringing the century of Nitish Kumar Reddy, the Border Gavaskar Trophy has seen all the ups and downs during these four test matches.
Now, it is time for the ultimate showdown at Sydney – The last and fifth test of the BGT series where Australia has the chance to bring back the BGT Trophy, while India can still deny the Aussie’s hand on a trophy that has eluded them for 10 years.
Truly, for a while, it looked like India could escape the MCG test with a draw. Why not? Yashasvi Jaiswal once again proved why he is the best batter in the Indian batting lineup right now, Nitish Kumar Reddy got his small career’s best moments, and Akash Deep won Steve Smith’s admiration. However, Akash has been seated for the last test of the BGT series.
With the reports of friction inside India’s dressing room, where captain Rohit Sharma’s place is not looking so good and coach Gautam Gambhir losing his patience – India is struggling to score first-inning runs with the seventh-lowest average of 22.40, Sydney is the place where they might enjoy. However, since India declared 705 here in 2003, SCG has not been a batting haven. Offering 34.85 per wicket, SCG is still better than any other ground in Australia over the last three years – probably one of the reasons Australia is bringing bowling reinforcements by debuting Beau Webster in place of Mitchell Marsh.
Form Guide
(last five completed matches, most recent first)
- Australia: WDWLW
- India: LDLWL
In the Spotlight: Rohit Sharma & Pat Cummins
The most intriguing question right now is – Will Rohit Sharma retire from test cricket after the Sydney test match? Well, India’s victory in Perth came without him. To not break the momentum, he even tried coming down to the middle order but it wasn’t working well. With not having enough runs, poor on-field decisions, and India’s next test in June 2025, by which he’ll be 38, it feels like the end of a great career.
Pat Cummins would be the series’ top bowler if Jasprit Bumrah weren’t involved. He seemed supercharged in Adelaide after a shaky start in Perth, preserving the long history of fast bowlers and their exhilarating celebrations. Because of his contributions with the bat, he was named Player of the Match in Melbourne. The ideal way for Cummins to finish the season would be to win at his home ground in front of the home crowd to guarantee a spot in the World Test Championship final.
Probable Playing XI
Australia: 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Sam Konstas, 3 Beau Webster, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Marnus Labuschagne, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Pat Cummins (c), 9 Nathan Lyon, 10 Scott Boland, 11 Mitchell Starc
Mitchell Starc, who is coming from a side/rib injury, will play in Sydney. After Nathan McSweeney and Sam Konstas, Webster, a right-handed batsman and bowler of medium pace and off-spin, will be Australia’s third debutant in this series. With 938 runs at 58.62 and 30 wickets at 29.30 last season, he was the Sheffield Shield’s top scorer.
India: 1 Rohit Sharma (c)/Shubman Gill, 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 KL Rahul, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Dhruv Jurel, 8 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 9 Mohammed Siraj, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Prasidh Krishna/Harshit Rana
India’s bowling arsenal will need to be rearranged with either Prasidh Krishna or Harshit Rana, replacing Akash, who is sidelined due to a stiff back. The batting lineup also seems to have changed, with Gambhir giving Gill throwdowns and direct attention to Dhruv Jurel.
Pitch and conditions
There was some grass on the SCG pitch the day before the test match. The feedback received by Cummins from the two Shield games that took place there – it is a good cricket wicket, with enough in it for the bowlers, particularly a bit more pace in it. Talking about the weather – the start of the test is expected to have clear weather with some rain forecast for the final two days.
Stats and trivia
- Steven Smith needs 38 runs to become one of only three Australians to reach 10,000 runs in a Tests, along with Ricky Ponting, and Allan Border. If he makes it to Sydney, he will be the second fastest of them, trailing Ponting in 196 innings.
- Even though Sydney is his home ground, Starc has a poor record here, having taken 24 wickets at an average of 44.16 in nine Test matches.
- India is trying to draw the series, but history is not in their favor. At the SCG, they have only triumphed once in 13 Test matches.
Seeing the pitch condition, history record, and changes in the playing XI, the team with the better batting lineup is most likely to win the match.
