Will new openers turn series towards India in Boxing Day Test?

India vs Australia Boxing Day Test: A win for any of the team at Melbourne shall give them an unassailable lead and put them in the driver's seat. 

India shall be locking horns with Australia in the third match of the 4-match Test series at the historic and scenic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) from Wednesday.

With the series squared at one apiece, the Boxing Day Test has all the makings for an absorbing encounter. While India drew first blood winning the opening Test at Perth, the 'Baggy Greens' made a resounding comeback winning the Adelaide Test. A win for any of the team at Melbourne shall give them an unassailable lead and put them in the driver's seat. 

India go into the test match dropping both their out of form openers - KL Rahul and Murali Vijay who are going through an extended lean patch. Meanwhile, inform Mayank Agarwal is all set to be handed his Test debut. In the absence of KL Rahul, middle-order batsman Hanuma Vihari is set to be pushed up the order and don Agarwal's opening partner's role. Ravindra Jadeja shall once again resume spinning duties in the absence of ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Meanwhile, all-rounder Hardik Pandya who has recovered well from injury has not made the cut in the playing eleven for the match. The think tank has once again restored faith in Rohit Sharma whose potential has still to match his performance.

The Indians shall go with a three-pronged pace attack of Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma, who were among the wickets in both the Tests. Speedster Umesh Yadav who has been quite erratic with his line and length is set to warm the bench. Skipper Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara shall once again be the batting lynchpins along with Ajinkya Rahane who has clawed back to some kind of form.

The Australians would take heart from their batting performance in the last Test where they collectively fared much better as a unit. Travis Head would look to extend his good run of form and Usman Khwaja should build on his starts and push on for a big hundred. Limited overs specialist Aaron Finch who looked all at sea against the red cherry at Perth looked much more assured while opening the innings with young Marcus Harris in Adelaide. Middle-order batsman Peter Handscomb who was worked out by the Indian seamers makes way for all-rounder Mitchell Marsh. 

The Australian pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Jos Hazelwood and Pat Cummins has been on the money, making regular inroads into the Indian batting. Meanwhile, ace off-spinner Nathan Lyon, the game turner in the Adelaide Test would look forward to bowling on the Melbourne track which historically assists spinners. 

There is a certain mystery about how the Melbourne pitch will play out. The deck hasn't played consistently in the recently held Sheffield Shield matches despite different lengths of grass being left on the 22 yards. ICC's 'Poor' rating of the deck after last year's Ashes stalemate leaves both the teams guessing as to what should be their ideal playing eleven.

India Playing XI for Boxing Day Test in Melbourne: Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane (VC), Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah

Australia Playing XI for Boxing Day Test in Melbourne -  Aaron Finch, 2 Marcus Harris, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Shaun Marsh, 5 Travis Head, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Tim Paine (capt. & wk), 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood

 

Stats Trivia

• There are a couple of milestones which could be achieved once the players take to the green turf at Melbourne
• Aussie speedster Mitchel Starc is just four wickets away from taking 200 Test wickets
• If the Indian skipper Virat Kohli who has already scored 5 tons in the year scores yet another test century, he would be only second to Sachin Tendulkar for the most Test hundreds by an Indian (7) in a calendar year