The Gabba is the new WACA as far as Australian cricket pitches go. It’s full of pace, bounce, and for the Indian batsmen, fear. Fresh from a modest paced and decidedly easy batting surface in Adelaide the Indians now face a much sterner test on the more bowler friendly Brisbane strip. The surface is expected to be much more like the surfaces the Indian batsmen have historically struggled on; the recipe is the WACA from 2012 where India were bundled out for 161 and 171.
That puts India on the back foot immediately, but there could be silver linings in the return of their inspiration leader and the vast number of changes to the opposing side. Both sides have new captains at the helm for game two; one with all the experience under the sun, and the other with zero – thrust into the spotlight as the third youngest captain in Australia’s test history. If Steven Smith’s batting is any indication as to captaincy ability, he’ll be fine, but the World will be watching in earnest as to whether he can command the respect of senior players like Shane Watson, Brad Haddin and Warner who all would have had their own captaincy ambitions.
MS Dhoni certainly commands respect and he’ll also bring a more conservative game plan to his teams approach; he’ll likely be a little more defensive / pragmatic than Virat Kohli. The Gabba surface won’t only favour the home side; Ishant Sharma, Varun Aaron and Mohammed Shami could find assistance in the bouncy deck if they pitch the ball up and don’t get carried away bowling short stuff. They will, however, need to bowl a much tighter line to David Warner if they don’t want the game to get away from them in the first session again.
The Last Time These Two Met
Game one will go down in history as an absolute classic, not only for the emotional ties to Phillip Hughes’ but also for the scintillating individual performances. Two players scored hundreds in both innings (David Warner and Virat Kohli) and Steven Smith scored an unbeaten hundred followed by an uneaten fifty. Then there was Nathan Lyon. In fairness Australia were the better side through most of the game and will take more momentum and confidence into this one.
The Teams
Australia: 1 Chris Rogers, 2 David Warner, 3 Shane Watson, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Shaun Marsh, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan Lyon.
Injuries to Michael Clarke and Ryan Harris sees Shaun Marsh and Josh Hazlewood given a chance to prove their wares. Marsh is well tested at this level and should suit the lower order more than his previous struggles at 3. Exciting quickie Josh Hazlewood earns his baggy green on the back of some impressive one day form. Mitchell Starc replaces the ineffective Peter Siddle in the other change.
India: 1 M Vijay, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Rohit Sharma, 7 MS Dhoni (capt,wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Varun Aaron, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav.
MS Dhoni is expected to return to captain the side. He’ll add some middle order stability that was lacking with Wriddhiman Saha in the side. Ravichandran Ashwin is also added at the expense of Karn Sharma.
The Key Players
Steven Smith – Everything Smith does in this test will be questioned. The toss, the bowling rotations, the field placements and his batting. He can probably withstand the heightened attention on his batting and the quality of the Australian team should paper over any cracks in his captaincy. Much like the coaching of John Buchanan when he inherited such a strong side nothing could go wrong.
Rohit Sharma – For someone that has two ODI double hundreds (including a top score of 264) Sharma hasn’t exactly excelled in the test environment. Admittedly he has been in and out of the squad and also frustratingly waiting patiently for a chance while Dravid, Laxman, and Tendulkar finished their careers. However, his record needs to improve. He needs to kick on from the starts. He needs a big score.
The Odds*
Australia – $1.55
Draw – $4.25
India – $5.00
*International Cricket odds courtesy of Luxbet.
The Prediction
Australia will be far to strong on the bouncy surface. The bounce tests the Indian batsmen techniques too much and all of them are susceptible to defending with their hands and half a bat outside off stump. Expect the Australia seamers to have a field day and win this one by an innings.
