India stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah won the toss and elected to bat first against Australia in the opening Test of the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Optus Stadium on Friday.
There are three debutants in this match, two from India and one from Australia. All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy and right-arm seamer Harshit Rana will debut for visitors and Nathan McSweeney will make his debut for the Baggy Greens.
“We are going to bat first, looks like a good wicket. Very confident with our preparation. We played a Test match here in 2018 so we know what to expect. The wicket gets quicker. Nitish makes his debut. We have 4 quicks and Washi is the lone spinner,” Bumrah said after winning the toss.
Australia skipper Pat Cummins said that they are pretty happy with the result of the toss
“We were 50-50, either way, we are pretty happy. Feel well placed, pretty fresh. Any format we (India-Australia) play seems fiercely fought. Nathan McSweeney makes our debut at the top of the order,” Cummins said.
Squads:
India (Playing XI): KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah (c), Mohammed Siraj.
Australia (Playing XI): Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
