IND vs AUS 1st Test highlights: Australia wins by 8 wkts, leads series 1-0

India fell to lowest-ever innings total in its 82-year Test cricket history as Virat Kohli-led side ended at 36 for nine in second innings

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Kohli on why he prefers playing Shaw ahead of Gill

Kohli on Wednesday hinted why he prefers playing Shaw ahead of Gill.

 

"Shubman is obviously a confident young man, (but) Prithvi has performed at the Test level..," Kohli said on Wednesday before stressing that Shaw would be playing in Australia for the first time.

 

This could essentially be a makeshift move, unless Shaw succeeds big time and displaces one of Rohit or Agarwal from the top. Otherwise, once Rohit is back, it is likely that Shaw will make way.

 

The other changes from the team that played the second Test in New Zealand is the inclusion of Wriddhiman Saha ahead of Rishabh Pant and R Ashwin, who had done well in the previous series in Australia and was always a certainty, in place of Ravindra Jadeja who is out due to concussion.

7:41 AM

WATCH: Mitchell Starc preparations

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WATCH: IND vs AUS 1st Test preview

7:31 AM

Will Shaw prove his selection right?

Once again, Cheteshwar Pujara will be crucial to hold one end up. The right-handed batsman had scored a century and a 71 the last time India played a Test in Adelaide which set up a win for the visitors.

 

He may be required to come in early as India are playing Shaw who has failed in both the warm-up matches.

 

Shaw, who has had to step in for an injured Rohit Sharma in New Zealand as well as here, aggregated just 62 across four innings at 15.2 but was persisted with in the opening slot even as the other option Shubman Gill was moved to No. 3 in the second warm-up.

Prithvi Shaw

7:20 AM

India playing 11 selection strategy

Charting into unknown territory, a pink-ball Test against Australia under lights and in breezy Adelaide, the Indian team has stuck to its overseas combination of packing its line-up with batting specialists besides a conventional wicketkeeper and four bowlers.

 

Back in 2018, when India toured South Africa and England, skipper Virat Kohli's strategy of playing five specialist batsmen and five bowlers, in order to be able to pick 20 wickets and win Tests, came under scrutiny after his team lost both those overseas series with that combination.

 

Since then, Kohli has made it a point to field six specialist batsmen abroad, a strategy that paid dividends in 2018-19 in Australia, when they won 2-1, but didn't work in February this year as they lost both the Tests in seam-friendly New Zealand.
 

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India vs Australia 1st Test preview

A peerless Virat Kohli and his "fearless" India would look to make perfect choices before unleashing its might on an Australian team which is ready for revenge but not exactly in 'pink of health' ahead of the first Day/Night Test starting at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday.

 

Media mogul Kerry Packer, while promoting his path-breaking 'World Series Day/Night Test matches' on Channel 9 back in late 1970s, had an unforgettable caption "Big Boys Play At Night".

 

Even in 2020, there couldn't have been a more appropriate catch-line for a series where Kohli's magnificence meets its match in Steve Smith's manic consistency, Cheteshwar Pujara's doggedness challenged by a much younger Marnus Labuschagne, ready to show the world that he isn't a one-season wonder. All this would be under lights at the Adelaide Oval.

 

And then there are those mean fast men on both sides aiming to instill the fear of pink ball in twilight zone, creating all sorts of doubts in the batsmen's minds.

 

A Josh Hazlewood versus Mohammed Shami will be as enticing a sub-plot as Jasprit Bumrah bowling those yorkers in reply to Pat Cummins' barrage of bouncers. READ MORE