(Info4now)- In late 2003 Ganguly and his company toured Australia and it’s my first experience of India- Australia classic fight in Australia. I was 14 and a half years of age and the test series is one of the finest battles, I remember clearly. With the memory of the last test series in India, Steve Waugh had the last chance to rescue the things lost.

It was Steve’s final series both as a captain and as a player. At Gabba, Brisbane Sourav scored a wonderful century and it went for a draw. In the second contest, at Adelaide Oval, India beat Australia. Rahul Dravid with a double century in the first innings and an unbeaten 70+ score in the second was declared man of the match. At Perth Australia bounced back. In Sidney, again dominated India riding on Tendulkar’s double hundred. But a neat Innings of 80 from the captain helped Australia save the game. It was 1-1 finally and a legend retired.

In 2007-08, 2011 and 2014-15 India returned with only one win. Things changed in 2018-19 as David Warner and Steve Smith failed to make Australian squad. In 2003, Shane Warne was banned and McGrath was injured and Team India hoped to do well that time. But a 2003 Australia were full of strong backups. It needed superb performance to handle those bowlers from reserve bench. In 2018-19, Australia suffered a lot, because they were not in their best form and against South Africa, they played poorly and just after that the ball tampering scenario took place.

Tim Paine Took Over the Charge

Tim Paine took over the captaincy from Smith and had to start with almost a new batting line up. So just before the world cup, India were determined to capitalize the weaker part of the opposition. As batsmen failed to project any attack or counter attack, Australian bowlers too had to face strong defence from Indian batsmen. India had the last laugh with first ever test series win in Australia and rightly considered it Virat as his best achievement so far.

Today’s Match

India vs Australia- 1st Test Preview

It’s the first match and it’s hard to determine the exact playing XI, although India declared theirs. On the other hand, a number of players are missing thereby making it harder. For Australia, Nathan Lyon who has a terrific record against India and beautiful memories with the pink bowl, must make the side. Pat Cummins who was given rest in T20 after long cricket earlier, has to bowl extremely well against India’s deep batting line. If I want to name the key batsmen for Australia, Steve Smith, Labuschagne and Matthew Wade should take heavy responsibility in the absence of Warner.

For India, the absence of Ishant Sharma is a problem, if not Rohit’s. Bumrah and Shami are only experienced and successful fast bowlers in the side. They have to find out the third and Umesh Yadav makes it for this contest. In batting unit, as Kohli will play the first one, there are lots of players who can score big and even better.

To Conclude

At Adelaide Oval, in the last few years, India registered their healthy performances. I think, they will start here a little bit ahead of Australia. But not to forget that it’s Australia’s home ground and whenever it’s pink to play they are at their best. No matter there’s no Warner, no matter there’s no depth in batting, no matter Mitchell Starc is out of form; their determination may make the Indians suffer. With no Virat Kohli in the next three, it’s a very important game for India.