Australia tour of India

3rd Test Match: IND vs AUS

Preview

After an unusual gap of 10 days between the series, The third test match of the Border-Gavaskar Test series will take place on Wednesday, 01st March at Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore from 9:30 AM onwards. The Hosts team India has retained the Border Gavaskar Trophy for the third time in a row by beating Australia in the second test. With the 6-wicket win at Delhi, India has a 2-0 lead in the series.

The Visitors scored 263 runs in the first innings of the test after the left-handed opener Khawaja (81) and Middle-order batter Peter Handscomb (72) posted half-centuries on the board. India's gun bowler Shami took 4 wickets for 60, and the spinners duo of Jadeja and Ashwin took 3 wickets each. The Aussies showed some intent for the first time in this series by taking 7 Indian wickets on 139. The veteran spinner Nathan Lyon picked up a five-for-67. But Axar Patel and Ashwin took the wind towards India with a 114 runs partnership for the 8th wicket. The left-handed all-rounder Patel scored only fifty from the Indian side to score 262.

With just 1 run lead, The World Number one side Australia returned with Travis Head as a concussion substitute for Warner who was injured in the second test. No other batter scored a two-digit figure except for Head (43) and Labuschagne (35). This time it was left-arm spinner Jadeja who took 7 wickets. Team India chased the target with 4 wickets down to register their third consecutive test win against Australia. Ravindra Jadeja was awarded the Man of the Match trophy for his 10 wickets and 26 runs. 

Besides the third consecutive win, Team India also retained the BGT for the third time. The Host side is now unbeaten in 5 test series against the Aussies at Home. It’s been 18 years since Australia has won a test series here.

The Visitors will play this match without David Warner, skipper Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood was already ruled off the BGT tour. The 36-year-old left-handed batter Warner suffered an elbow fracture in the first innings. Warner has been ruled out of the series but he has been added to the squads for ODIs. On the other hand, The Number three test bowler Cummins has taken leave due to a family emergency. Both Cameroon Green and Mitchell Starc are finally available for selection in the 3rd test for Indore.

There is a lot of buzz over the inclusion of vice-captain KL Rahul in the squad and whether he should be part of the 3rd test match or not. The right-handed opening batter Rahul has scored 175 runs in the last 11 innings at an average below 16. But Rohit Sharma will keep on trusting Rahul over Gill to open the innings with him. The skipper of the side Rohit Sharma is the leading run-scorer of the series with 183 runs. Though he hasn’t performed well in the two tests played at Indore, he averages 71.96 in India with 8 centuries and 6 half-centuries.

Pujara will be playing with Virat Kohli in number third position. Pujara played his 100th test at Delhi and remained not out for 31 in the second innings while hitting the winning runs. Pujara has scored a century, and a half-century in 3 innings played at Indore. Though the stars are not with the 34-year-old batter Kohli after the way he was given out in the first innings, he has scored a double-century at this venue. With an average of 76, he is our choice for the top batter in the third test.

The Hosts team India currently has the deadliest all-rounder trio in the playing XI. The likes of Ravindra Jadeja (World number 1), Ravi Ashwin (World number 2 - bowler as well as an all-rounder), and Axar Patel (World number 5) have given a headache to the Visitors with both bat and ball. While Ashwin (17) and Jadeja (14) have taken 31 wickets in the first two tests, Patel has produced match-winning half-centuries in both. He is the second-leading run-scorer with 158 runs. Ashwin now has 103 wickets against the Kangaroos in 20 tests. Besides this, Ashwin averages 12.5 at Indore with 18 wickets in 2 tests.

Fast gun bowlers like Shami and Siraj will lead the pace attack for India. Since 2017, every Indian bowler in the current squad has averaged below 20 in the tests at home. Both sides' packers will be equally important in the third test. Since 2017, Indian pacers have taken 180 wickets compared to 317 taken by the spinners. But the strike rate is better for Shami on the top gear. 

Things have been getting tougher for the Visitors. They will be without Warner and Cummins in the Indore test. They have Mitchell Starc and Cameroon Green to take their place for the 3rd test. While the left-handed batter Travis Head will probably open with Khawaja. 36-year-old left-handed batter Khawaja scored 81 runs in the first innings of the second test. While the number one test batter Marnus Labuschagne will be our choice for the top batter from the Aussie side. Though Labuschagne hasn’t scored a lot in the first two tests, he has been consistent with 119 runs - most by a Visiting batter in the series so far.

The likes of Steve Smith, Peter Handscomb, and Alex Carey will play in the middle order with Cameron Green. Smith has been got out three times against Ashwin. But his average is still 60 in India, which makes him one of the guys to look out for. Handscomb and Carey must keep their wickets, as no one can bat long below them. The all-rounder Cameroon Green will return after breaking his thumb in the earlier test series. There is one thing that Aussies need to keep in mind. Stop playing sweep shots as 5 of them got bowled trying to sweep Jadeja.

Australia tried 3 spinners and one pacer combination in the last game in Delhi. Stand-in skipper Steve Smith will probably opt for the same, seeing 13 out of 14 Indian wickets were taken by the spinners. Lyon has 102 wickets against India in 24 tests, out of which 49 have come in India in 9 tests. No doubt he will be leading the pack. Starc will need help from Green to bowl those extra overs.

Both nations have played 104 Test matches with India winning 32 matches and the Aussies 43 in which one ended in a tie and 28 times both teams settled with a drawn. India has won the last two Test series by 2-1 margins. India and Australia have played a total of 27 Test series against each other. Of these Men in Blue have won 10 times whereas Aussies have won 12 series, with 5 series ending in draws.

Match Details

Match: IND vs AUS, 3rd Test Match, Australia tour of India 2023

Date: Wednesday, 01 March - Sunday, 05 March

Time: 09:30 AM

Venue: Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore

Pitch & Weather Report

The 3rd Test between India and Australia will be played at Holkar International Stadium, Indore, on March 1st from 9:30 AM IST. The venue holds a capacity of 30000 spectators and has hosted 2 Tests, 6 ODIs & 3 T20Is so far. The former Indian opener Virender Sehwag has scored his ODI double hundred at this venue. Team India's former skipper Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane have the highest runs for a partnership at this ground. The duo added 365 runs for the fifth wicket against NZ.

In all 2 Tests, the result is shared 1 between the team batting first and the team batting second. In ODIs and T20Is team has often defended targets. The team winning the toss should bat first.

The maximum temperature will remain at 33°C, with a low of 18°C with 26% humidity, and a slow wind speed of 10 Km/hr for the third Test between India and Australia on Mar 01-Mar 05. There is no rain expected for the course of this test match which will begin this Wednesday.

IND vs AUS Squads

IND: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (VC), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat, Ishan Kishan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.

AUS: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (VC), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

IND vs AUS: Probable XIs

IND: KS Bharat (wk), KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami

Match Prediction

India hasn’t lost a test series at home since 2012. Nothing is more difficult than playing against the Hosts at home. They are now the number-one team across all formats. In the last four Tests, they have had three victories over Australia.

Host India is high on confidence with back-to-back wins against the Visitors. Team India has already had their hands on the BGT and now their ultimate aim will be to qualify for the Test Championship Final comfortably. Team India has 4 wins, and 1 draw in the last 5 tests played against Australia. Team India hasn’t lost a Test at home for the last 2 years. Indian bowlers have claimed all 40 wickets of Australian batters. And they have had an average below 20 at home since 2017. We say to team India to dominate this match once again like the previous two encounters.

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