India will face Australia for the third test encounter on January 7, 2021, in Sydney. Team India is likely to regain Rohit Sharma's services as he will join the Test team on Wednesday after flying from Melbourne to Sydney. It will be interesting to see whom he replaces in the playing eleven.
The baggy green side was all-out for exactly 200 runs in their second innings of the Boxing Day Test match against India. Australia resumed the play at 133 for 6, and their lower-order struggled hard. The hosts could only manage to put up a lead of 69 runs.
Team Australia had also failed to perform in the first innings as well. The entire team collapsed for 195 runs. Not a single Australian batsman could cross the fifty-run mark in both the innings.
Labuschagne's 48 was the highest score by an Australian batsman on an opening day. This is the first time since the year 1988 that Australia has had a home Test without any of their batsman scoring a half-century.
Australian cricketers have struggled a lot in their recent Tests against India. It has been a long time since an Australian have scored a century in a Test match against India.
The last Australian Test century against India was in 2017
Predictably, it was Steve Smith who notched up a three-figure score in a Test match against India. He scored a century in the fourth Test of the four-match series in India, at Dharamshala on March 25, 2017.
Steve Smith had smashed 111 runs from 173 balls in the first innings as the Australian opted to bat first after winning the toss. Smith hammered 14 boundaries in his 224-minute stay at the crease. His sworn enemy, Ravichandran Ashwin, dismissed him.
India had won the Test match by eight wickets with Ravindra Jadeja's brilliant bowling effort. Coincidentally, Rahane was also leading that Test after Virat Kohli was ruled out because of an injury.
Since 2017, an Australian batsman's highest score in a Test match against India has been 79.
In the on-going Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Captain Tim Paine's unbeaten 73 remains the highest by an Australian batsman. On the other hand, Steve Smith, who has an astonishing record against India, has not performed in the last 2 test matches. The batsman has only managed scores of 1, 1 not out, 0 and 8.
India will face Australia for the third test encounter on January 7, 2021, in Sydney. Team India is likely to regain Rohit Sharma's services as he will join the Test team on Wednesday after flying from Melbourne to Sydney. It will be interesting to see whom he replaces in the playing eleven.
The clash for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is now proceeding to the Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 26. Team India will be looking forward to even the score after their defeat in the first Test to Australia.
The visitors will find themselves in a tough position after suffering a horrible collapse in the Adelaide Test. India will be without Virat Kohli as he is on paternity leave. Mohammad Shami is also out of the series.
However, one thing that will give the "Men in Blue" some cause for optimism is their record at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The venue has always been the standard hosting ground for the Boxing Day Test match. The match is one of the most eagerly awaited events of the Australian cricketing calendar, every year. As the Aussies have a remarkable record in MCG, history also shows that India can beat them at the renowned venue.
Team India's has a win percentage of 23.07 at the MCG
Team India has played 13 Test matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Out of those 13 matches, they have won 3 and lost 8. India got the win at this stadium on their last tour to Australia back in 2018.
India will always remember the victory as Cheteshwar Pujara smashed an impressive century and Jasprit Bumrah picked up a six-wicket haul in the first innings. Bumrah was the Man of the Match as he grabbed nine wickets. Australia lost the game by 137 runs.
In 2014, India earned an improbable draw at the MCG. It was Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane who aced that series. Kohli scored 169 and 54 in his two innings. Rahane hit a century and played a crucial knock of 48 in the second innings. Their brilliant batting helped India draw the Test. Rahane will now be looking forward to taking inspiration from that memorable encounter as he is all set to lead India.
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