History
Before the trophy was renamed, India and Australia had faced each other in 50 test matches, with Australia winning 24 of those matches and India winning only 8, with 18 matches being drawn. The series was then renamed and the first Border-Gavaskar trophy was played in October 1996, with India winning the sole test match. India went on to have a better head-to-head record once the trophy was renamed, with 21 wins in 50 tests, with Australia winning 19 tests and the rest 10 being draws.
In the first match of this series, the home side comfortably won by 8 wickets as they were set a meagre target of 91, after India were bundled out for just 36 runs in their second innings, their lowest ever score in test cricket. The Aussie pacers were on fire as Hazelwood and Cummins shared 9 wickets between them for a memorable victory eventually.
In the second match of this series, India bounced back brilliantly under the leadership of their stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who struck a brilliant century to ensure India had a commanding first innings lead, before their bowlers rattled the Aussie line-up for a comfortable win in the end.
Team News
Australia will finally be able to call on their talismanic opener David Warner for this match, after he missed the first two tests as well as the entire T20 series. They have sorely missed him. Moises Henriques has been added to the squad as cover for Cameron Green, who has a few niggles. The batting will again be held together by the brilliant duo of Smith and Labuschane, while Lyon, Starc and Cummins will be the key men again with the pink ball.
So far in this series, only Marnus Labuschane has been able to stand his ground with consistent knocks, while Steve Smith has been a huge disappointment and will be looking to set that right. Cummins and Hazerlwood have been among the wickets and will hope to continue that.
The Indians have plenty of decisions to make after this extremely poor batting performance. They could only muster 280 runs in both innings combined, almost an embarrassing stat. The openers flopped in both innings and the board will be looking to make changes to ensure there won’t be a repeat of that. The bowlers did an incredible job in the first innings as they got Australia all-out for just 191, with Ashwin being the pick with 4 wickets. However, a miserable batting collapse in the second innings saw India lose this match in a very one-sided manner.
Ajinkya Rahane led the team brilliantly in the second test as he scored a century to ensure India claims a memorable win. He will be joined by a new vice-captain as Rohit Sharma makes his return to the side. Virat Kohli has gone back to India on compassionate leave while KL Rahul will be a huge miss as he has been ruled out of the series due to a sprained wrist.
Betting Preview, Picks And Predictions
To Win The Match
Australia are the heavy favourites to repeat their heroics and win this match at 1.64, despite losing the second match after an emphatic display by the Indians. The return of David Warner may have something to do with those odds. India to win has odds of 3.50 after their impressive victory in the second match, and the match to end in a draw has odds of 6.00.
Top Team Batsman In The First Innings
With Kohli missing, the onus to handle the batting order falls on Ajinkya Rahane now, and after his century in the previous match, he is the new favourite to be the top Indian batsman in the first innings at 3.50. He is followed by Pujara and the returning Rohit Sharma, both at 4.00.
Steve Smith is still the obvious favourite to be Australia’s top batsman at 3.00, despite his ongoing struggles in this series so far. He is followed by the ever consistent Labuschane at 3.75 and the returning David Warner at 4.00.
Highest Opening Partnership In The First Innings
With Indian likely to include Rohit Sharma as an opener, the odds for them having the highest opening partnership are 2.18. While Mathew Wade didn’t have a great start, he still had a solid opening partnership with Joe Burns in the second innings of the first match, and will now open with the returning David Warner, and these two have odds of 1.66 to have the highest opening partnership.
Top Team Bowler
Pat Cummins is again the favourite to be the top bowler at 3.25, with his searing deliveries expected to make Indian batters tremble just like in the first test. Josh Hazelwood really troubled the Indian batsmen in the previous series and took 5 wickets in the second innings of the first match, and he is at 3.50 to be the top bowler. Lyon is 5.00 to be the top bowler.
Jasprit Bumrah leads India’s bowling contingent again at 3.00, followed by the first match’s top bowler Ravi Ashwin at 4.50. Newcomers Saini and Siraj are also both at 4.50.
Individual Player Betting
- Rahane to score more than 70.5 runs over both innings has odds of 1.83, which is a tempting bet as he would like to continue his current form and build on his impressive century in the previous match highlighting his consistency. David Warner to score more than 38.5 runs in the first innings has odds of 1.83, which is again a very tempting bet as he would love to come back with a bang.
- Pat Cummins to take 5 or more wickets has odds of 2.25, which is very attractive as he averages more than that in Test cricket and is Australia’s top wicket taker in this series so far. Bumrah to take 5 or more wickets has odds of 1.83, which is attractive as well he was the leading wicket taker in the previous series between these two as well as the current series.
Our Top Betting Picks
- India to win the match @3.50
- Australia to have the Highest Opening Partnership @1.66
- Cummins to be Australia’s top bowler in the first innings @3.25
