India Aim to Start Test Campaign on Positive Note

Adelaide: Aiming to win their maiden Test series in Australia, India want to start the campaign on a positive note, when they face the hosts in the opening match of the four match series here on Thursday.

World No. 1 India are coming on the back of some good performances at home, thrashing West Indies but were shocked by hosts Australia in the recently concluded Twenty20 International series while fifth ranked Australia had a torrid year due to controversies and poor outings.

India’s overseas record is not that impressive as they lost a Test series in South Africa at the back end of last year and fell to England in a five-Test series away from home in the middle of 2018.

Skipper Virat Kohli said that this time around the team is more experienced and players are fit as compared to the previous tours.

The batting department is comprised of some quality batsmen like Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay, Cheteshar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane who on their day can turn the game in their favour.

In the warm-up game against Cricket Australia XI, Indian batsmen were on the mark as all have scored runs.

India have also changed the five bowler strategy as Virat Kohli named only four bowlers for the upcoming match. The pace trio of Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah will be complemented by off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Australia, on the other hand, dropped Mitchell Marsh and handed Marcus Harris his debut in the upcoming match.

The conditions here are best suited for fast bowlers and the hosts are well prepared for it with the likes of Nathon Lyon, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.

The batting department also seemed settled with Aaron Finch, Marcus Harris, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb. But the hosts will definitely miss the experienced players — Steve Smith, David Warner — who are serving bans for ball-tampering.

With India having struggled — specially in batting — during their previous tours to England and South Africa, skipper Kohli wants his boys to adapt quickly to the conditions.

“We don’t want to wait to figure out what is happening with the conditions or the pitch. We need to read it really early and alter our game, which we couldn’t do in the last two tours,” Kohli was quoted as saying by the official website of the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday.

The Indian captain also dismissed the idea that Australia will be easier opponents due to lack of experience in their current squad. (IANS)

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