Akash deep out with injury, India deliberating on Pant, Rohit Sharma; Australia bring in Beau Webster for Marsh
With inclement weather predicted in the next few days in Sydney, coupled with the poor form of its senior players and huge question marks hanging over team composition, the Indian men's cricket team faces problems aplenty when it buckles down to take on Australia in the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
Trailing 1-2 after losing the penultimate Test in Melbourne before the end of 2024, the visitors need to pull themselves by their bootstraps if they have to win the fifth Test and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
A 2-2 draw will be enough for them to take the trophy back home though they will not be able to win it outright and complete a hat-trick of triumphs in the series that has emerged as one of the most watched and fiercely fought encounters between two top teams.
But things will not be easy for the Indian cricket team in Sydney with rain predicted for the fourth and fifth day of the match.
The team is in disarray following reports about head coach Gautam Gambhir going ballistic after the defeat in Melbourne and the team is reportedly in chaos with Gambhir warning players that they will not have their way inside and outside the field.
To compound their problems, India are expected to play on a spin-friendly wicket with Ravichandran Ashwin, their best spinner in recent times with 537 wickets in his kitty, back home having announced his retirement abruptly after the third Test.
With Ravindra Jadeja expected to retain his spot as the main spinner, the Indian team management will have to take a call on whether to go in with an extra spinner and who that will be.
The team management is seriously deliberating the composition of the playing eleven. Young pacer Akash Deep is struggling with a back problem and is sure to sit out the fifth and final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
Top-order batter Shubman Gill is expected to come back into the playing eleven, which leaves the team management to decide whom to drop for the match. Gambhir is clearly unhappy with some of the batters for their shot selection.
Wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant is top-most among those facing heat over his manner of dismissal in the last couple of Test matches, leaving the team in the lurch after raising hopes of saving the innings. Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has been the most critical of Pant’s modes of dismissal and the team management is seriously considering dropping him for Sydney.
There are also reports that skipper Rohit Sharma may miss the match and will likely announce his retirement from Test cricket afterward. Sharma has been under severe criticism for his poor batting form and some of the decisions he has taken on the field. He had missed the first Test in Perth, which India eventually won by 295 runs, to attend the birth of his second child.
Gambhir, on Wednesday, refused to confirm or deny whether Sharma will lead the side out in Sydney, saying that they have not yet decided their playing XI.
Everything is fine with Rohit and we will announce the Playing XI tomorrow after seeing the pitch.
He remained non-committal on Sharma, reiterating that they have not yet decided on the playing XI.
As I just said, we’re going to have a look at the wicket and probably announce the playing XI tomorrow. So, the answer remains the same.
India’s hopes of winning the fifth Test in Sydney will depend on another superb performance by Jasprit Bumrah, who has troubled the Australian batters to no end in the entire series.
On the batting front, Yashasvi Jaiswal was superb in hitting half-centuries in both innings at Melbourne while Nitish Kumar Reddy struck a sensational hundred in the first innings at MCG.
On the other hand, hosts Australia go into the final Test a confident lot having dominated the visitors in the last three Tests. They came back to win the second match at Adelaide by 10 wickets; held the upper hand throughout the drawn third game at Brisbane and then grabbed the 2-1 lead by winning in Melbourne.
On Thursday, Australia captain Pat Cummins confirmed that Australia have made one change in their side for the New Year’s first Test match. They have dropped experienced but out-of-form all-rounder Mitchell Marsh bringing in all-rounder debutant Beau Webster; Australia’s 469th men’s Test player.
Marsh has struggled for form in this series, scoring just 73 runs at an average of 10.42 so far in this series.
A 6'7" pacer and late-order batter, Webster is an exciting prospect known for his ability to bowl well and take heavy load.
Really excited for Beau; the first thing he (Marsh) said was, ‘I can’t wait to see Beau go out there and give it a crack’. Particularly here in Australia, I think when a batter misses out or gets dropped, it’s always seen as a big thing. But the way that (Australia coach Andrew McDonald), and the selectors and myself look at is, we love pulling a squad of players together who we can call on at different times.
Webster has done well in recent times, claiming 12 wickets in his last three first-class outings, taking six wickets, and making an unbeaten 46 in the most recent Australia A v India A meeting in Melbourne.
Cummins said that the 31-year-old Webster’s superior bowling was one of the reasons for handing him a debut.
That was definitely a factor. It’s always nice to have a fifth bowler who bowls quite a lot for Tasmania. So if we need to call on that, we can. Firstly, if you’re going to bat six, you picked for your batting, which he’s shown in Shield over the last couple of years when he takes the game on, and he’s really changed some games for Tasmania. That pace bowling of Beau’s going to be handy.
Australia only needs to draw the match to win the series and hoping to take the upper hand once again. The wicket at SCG is usually quite batting-friendly and though it has changed in its character a bit in recent times, the bowlers will have a lot of hope too.
Overall, it portends for another engrossing Test match, weather permitting.
