Preview: 2nd Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25

New Zealand beats India 3-0 at home.

India all out for 150 in their first innings of the first test down under.

Australia collapses against India, all out for 104.

India beat Australia by a mammoth 295 runs, leading the series 1-0.

No one in the cricketing fraternity would have expected such a turnaround for the Indian team, and if you are also their fan, these 20 days have been nothing but a roller-coaster of emotions. Hope is alive after all for the World Test Championship Final spot.

The famous victory at Perth was led by the fiery stand-in captain - Jasprit Bumrah, who took 8/72, and Yashasvi Jaiswal who toyed not just with the bowling, but also the emotions of Australian bowlers with scores of 0 and 161. The bowlers and lower middle order too played their parts in tandem and the man who has almost always been there, Virat Kohli, notched up his 81st ton. Who would have thought that India would start the series with such a thumping victory without Rohit, Shami, Pujara, Ashwin, and Jadeja.

We move on to the second test now, India’s nightmare and Australia’s dream, the pink ball test match in Adelaide where the bowlers should get much more assistance and lateral movement off the pitch ideally. From the early pictures though, the pitch seems to be much drier and we’re more likely to be in for a low-scoring thriller. Certainly not 36-all-out low but okay that was low of me. It appears as if India has taken a break from announcing their playing XI a day in advance starting from the World Cup-like win in Gabba - gods of a billion and a half people believing in superstitions now.

Maybe for the first time, you would see a team with a win like that have multiple changes. The captain of the team, Rohit Sharma, will most likely replace Dhruv Jurel and Devdutt Padikkal will make way for Shubman Gill. Rohit, in the captain's press conference recently, has announced that he will not open and will play ‘somewhere in the middle’. The Indian Cricket fan in me salutes the move and motive of such a selfless captain but the selfish me wanted Rohit to be selfish. Certainly, this is the beginning of the end of his Test career, perhaps at the position where he started his career.

Will India miss Pujara to bat/pad the entire session on a turner or will Ashwin get a chance to pair with Sundar or will his wait for 550 wickets continue? Will Sundar, who has not stepped a foot wrong, make way for Jadeja, who is just 7 shy of 600 international wickets.

Headaches much? Try to be an Australian fan for a moment.

Josh Hazlewood, the pink ball specialist, has been ruled out due to an injury. He averages less than 19 in a Day/Night Test match. Scott Boland is all set to replace him. Boland is a master of home conditions and has performed whenever given an opportunity. The real cause of worry for Australia however would be their batting. The debutant opener Nathan McSweeney was trapped twice by Bumrah. The duo of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith are going through a ‘no run’ patch and again, a tough time to be Usman Khawaja who averages 31 against India. When was the last time we saw so many Australians in a spot of bother?

Amidst all this what a time to be Nitish Reddy and what a time to be an Indian Cricket Fan. The Australians do indeed ‘have a long memory’ and have humbled us time and again but then ‘all is coming too slow’ for this new batch of Indian crop, just like our wait for the 2nd Test match.

The match starts at 09:30 am IST on Friday, 6th December 24. It can be viewed on Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar.

Teams

India's Probable XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubhman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj

Australia's Playing XI: Nathan McSweeney, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labushagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland

Players to watch out for: Rishabh Pant (India), Marnus Labushagne (Australia).