The Adelaide Test match was perhaps the most exciting one we have seen in 2014. Virat Kohli led India heroically, not backing down, not giving up, not slowing down at any stage in the toughest of match situations. This is a new Indian side which gives as good as it gets. In Virat Kohli, India found an inspirational new captain.
Pity that’s only for 1 Test match though, as the familiar old Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is set to take his place as the wicketkeeper and leader in the 2nd Test at Brisbane. Dhoni’s performance abroad has been abysmal – he has a record of winning only 16% of the matches played abroad under his captaincy. This is as low as it gets, especially for a country of India’s size, where cricket is such a big thing, a religion, more than just a sport.
Other changes expected are, Ravichandran Ashwin is coming back after the Karn Sharma experiment failed so spectacularly at Adelaide, and possibly, Umesh Yadav comes in for the completely out of form Mohammad Shami.
For Australia, massive changes are in order with Michael Clarke ruled out of the series because of a really bad hamstring injury, which has even put his cricketing career into question. As Clarke contemplates retirement from cricket, we have a new Australian skipper – Steven Smith, only 25 years old.
Smith is in many respects the Australian Virat Kohli, and he is expected to prove to be an inspired choice for the Aussies. He is an aggressive young cricketer, who is known to go for the kill, always, and an ultimate team man. Throughout his young career of only 23 Tests, Smith has been known to put team interests above his own, often sacrificing his wicket for the team in quick run chases – which is perhaps the reason for his relatively low batting average.
That is why it would have been a lot better had Indians stuck with Kohli as the captain for this Test as well, as that would mean a brand new generation coming into its own in both sides. But that’s not to be, as the Indian selectors are known to be far too conservative for that.
For Australia, young fast bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are expected to replace the old and exhausted men, Peter Siddle and the warhorse Ryan Harris. They are expected to add freshness to the Australian attack and provide a more effective assistance to pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson, was somewhat off-key in Adelaide.
For India, they would expect the young batting stars – Shikhar Dhavan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane to come good, or at least prove to be as good as the hype surrounding them, because frankly, apart from Kohli, all the young Indian batsmen have flattered to deceive, and have been completely unreliable and inconsistent.
Match Conditions:
The Brisbane weather looks perfect, bright and sunny, ideal for a 5-day Test match. The pitch looks like one that is typically Australian – fast, with a plenty of bounce and carry.
New Australian captain Steven Smith likes it already, “Hopefully after the wickets we’ve played on recently in Test cricket, the Adelaide Oval and the two in the UAE, it’s exciting for our fast bowlers to finally have something that’s going to have a bit of liveliness to it.”
Indian captain MS Dhoni said that he wants a fast pitch with a plenty of grass: “The last couple of tours we haven’t played here. We have won at some of the fastest Test wickets – Johannesburg and Perth. There will be something extra for the bowlers, especially the fast bowlers.”
The Teams
Australia 1 Chris Rogers, 2 David Warner, 3 Shane Watson, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Shaun Marsh, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan Lyon.
India: 1 M Vijay, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Rohit Sharma, 7 MS Dhoni (capt,wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Varun Aaron, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav.
Watch the Brisbane Test match live on Star Sports from 17 – 21 December, at 5:30 AM.
