Australia eyeing to keep their momentum
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|| CF Correspondent ||
Australia will be eyeing to keep their momentum bounced back from a disappointing defeat in the first Test to claim an excellent 146-run victory in the second Test in Perth to seal a win against India at MCG, where they have not lost a Test since 2010 as the two sides are set to play the Boxing day Test.
It was a case of contributions all-round that saw Australia to their first Test win since March. Half-centuries from Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch and Travis Head anchored their first-innings total of 326, while Usman Khawaja showed tremendous resolve in the second innings with his 213-ball 72. Australia set India a challenging target of 287, one which proved simply too much for the visitors.
With the ball, Nathan Lyon was superb once more, collecting eight wickets in the match. Despite talk of a fiery Perth pitch being seamer-friendly, it was the Australian spinner who wreaked havoc.
He has developed into a man for all conditions, someone who can be relied on to tighten the scoring, break budding partnerships and run through line-ups. If India are to claim their first series win in Australia, they will have to devise a new plan to tackle the threat of the off-spinner.
The hosts have brought in Mitchell Marsh in place of the struggling Peter Handscomb. Marsh, they believe, will help take some load off the fast bowlers.
For India, some underlying issues from the first Test came back to haunt them in the second, which they have tackled with three changes. The opening pair of Murali Vijay and KL Rahul, who struggled with form, have been dropped for the third Test. Mayank Agarwal is set to make his India debut and likely to open with Hanuma Vihari, who is set to be promoted up the order.
Rohit Sharma, who missed the second Test with injury, slots back in, likely in the middle order.
Another disappointing aspect for the Indians was the crumbling of the tail across both innings, with the foursome of Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah contributing 11 runs across the match.
While they should not be relied upon to deliver match-winning totals, a few extra runs and more time spent in the field for the Australians would be beneficial to India over the next two Tests.
With the key figure of Ravichandran Ashwin continuing to miss out as he recovers from an abdominal strain, India have brought in Ravindra Jadeja in place of Yadav. They will hope the move offers them some batting depth as well.
