Sydney, Jan 2 (DIN NEWS)<\/b> India’s unwavering pursuit of history hit a minor glitch in 11th hour injury concerns but Virat Kohli’s men will still walk in as overwhelming favourites against a faltering Australia in the fourth and final Test starting Thursday.<\/p>\n
Leading 2-1 in the four-match series, India remain firm favourites to make it 3-1 at the Sydney Cricket Ground despite the injury-forced omission of premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and senior pacer Ishant Sharma, who has not been named in the 13-member list.<\/p>\n
Australia have hosted India since 1947-48, and barring three occasions in 1980-81, 1985-86 and 2003-04 which were drawn the visitors have lost the Test series on seven occasions — 1967-68, 1977-78, 1991-92, 1999-2000, 2007-08, 2011-12, 2014-15.<\/p>\n
Virat Kohli, thus, is in a unique position as the only Indian captain to go into the final Test on the Australian soil with the cushion of a series lead.<\/p>\n
A series win in Australia will certainly put Kohli on a different pedestal even though the quality of the home team’s batting line-up suffered due to the ball-tampering bans on former skipper Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner.<\/p>\n
Kohli will also need to fret over his team combination as the skipper revealed that senior off-spinner hasn’t adequately recovered from his injury despite being named in the preliminary 13-member squad.<\/p>\n
With spin considered a traditional factor in any Sydney Test, India were left fretting over the fitness of off-spinner R Ashwin, who is yet to recover from left abdominal strain that laid him low after the first Test in Adelaide.<\/p>\n
Ishant is out after experiencing discomfort in his left rib cage and the team management didn’t want to risk him by playing him in the decider.<\/p>\n
While Ashwin had played on in Nottingham and Southampton (despite a groin injury as revealed by the team management only at the Oval), he has already missed two Tests – in Perth and Melbourne – in the on-going series.<\/p>\n
“It’s unfortunate that he’s had two niggles that are quite similar in the last two away tours,” said skipper Kohli.<\/p>\n
“He’s very important for sure. In Test cricket, he’s a vital part of this team and we wanted him to be 100 percent fit for a longer period to that he can come back to us in the Test format. He is very disappointed that he’s not able to recover in time,” Kohli elaborated.<\/p>\n
In a strange u-turn, after he was ruled out at the time of Kohli’s pre-match press conference, Ashwin was named in the 13-man shortlist for this fourth Test.<\/p>\n
A final decision on his fitness and availability for the match will be taken at toss-time.<\/p>\n
Additionally, India have included left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav as cover, in case the skipper decides to go in with two spinners.<\/p>\n
Umesh Yadav has been included in place of Ishant, along with Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.<\/p>\n
In Rohit Sharma’s absence, out-of-favour opener KL Rahul could be slated for a comeback after missing out in Melbourne, with Hanuma Vihari slotting down to his number six spot.<\/p>\n
This is on assumption that regardless of Ashwin’s fitness, India will opt to play four bowlers, whether in a two-pacer-two spinners or three-pacers-one-spinner combination.<\/p>\n
There is no option of playing an all-rounder as Hardik Pandya continues to be ignored, despite a hectic pre-match workout in the nets with both bat and ball.<\/p>\n
Kohli has described Vihari as an “exciting” spinner and he will be the second spin option, if India retain their bowling combination from the MCG Test.<\/p>\n
Additionally, this 13-man shortlist can also be seen as a ploy to keep Australia guessing, for the hosts made a departure from norm and decided not to name their playing eleven for the first time in this series.<\/p>\n
Skipper Tim Paine said that they would wait to announce the team until the toss, taking into consideration if India opt to play two full-time spinners.<\/p>\n
While they need at least a draw in Sydney to win the series outright, India will retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy irrespective of the result. Kohli will join Ganguly as the only Indian captain to have achieved this feat in Australia.<\/p>\n
Additionally, one more win will take Kohli ahead of Ganguly, who led India to 11 wins in 28 overseas Tests. Kohli has matched that record in 24 away Tests.<\/p>\n
For Australia, batsman Peter Handscomb is expected to make a comeback for Mitchell Marsh, who has come under severe criticism after his poor shot selection in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
The other toss-up is between opener Aaron Finch and leg-spin all-rounder Marnus Labuschagne. If Finch is left out, Usman Khawaja will open with Marcus Harris, and Labuschagne slotting in the middle-order.<\/p>\n
It remains to be seen if this would solve any of Australia’s batting problems, with not a single batsman scoring a century so far in this Test series.<\/p>\n
Teams:<\/p>\n
India (Final 13): Virat Kohli (capt), Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, R Ashwin.<\/p>\n
Australia: Tim Paine (capt & wk), Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Peter Handscomb, Peter Siddle.<\/p>\n
Match starts 5 am (IST).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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