India wins the toss and bats first against Australia to open the five-test series
PERTH, Australia (AP) — India won the toss and elected to bat in the opening test of the Border-Gavaskar five-match series at Perth Stadium on Friday.
India capped 21-year-old fast bowler and allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy and fast bowler Harshit Rana, 22, for the opening test that is missing skipper Rohit Sharma (paternity leave) and Shubman Gill, who has a broken finger.
The inclusion of Reddy and Rana means India will field a four-pronged pace attack that will be led by skipper Jasprit Bumrah and Mohamed Siraj. Bumrah is captaining India only for the second time in the absence of Sharma, who is expected to join the tour party at the end of the test match.
K.L. Rahul returns to the side to open with young batting prodigy Yashasvi Jaisval. The Indian batting lineup is packed with batting allrounders with only Virat Kohli providing experience.
Surprisingly, India picked off-spinner and allrounder Washington Sundar ahead of the experienced off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja.
Australia also capped young opener Nathan McSweeney to open the batting with the experienced Usman Khawaja at the top of the strong batting lineup. McSweeney, 25, comes into the side to replace veteran opener David Warner, who has retired from test play.
Left-arm swing bowler Mitchell Starc and seam bowler Josh Hazlewood need just two wickets to become the first Australian new-ball attack to claim 400 wickets together. With skipper Pat Cummins the trio will form the Australian pace attack that will be complemented by veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
After experimenting with opening the batting, Steve Smith has dropped down the order to his regular No. 4 with Marnus Labuschagne occupying the pivotal No. 3 position.
Australia and India are one-two in the World Test Championship standings.
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Lineups:
Australia: Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (captain), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon.
India: K.L. Rahul, Yashasvi Jaisval, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah (captain), Mohamed Siraj.
Umpires: Richard Kettleborough, England, and Chris Gaffaney, New Zealand. TV umpire: Richard Illingworth, England. Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle, Sri Lanka.
