First Test – India vs. Australia Tips and Previews, 9th February
Can Australia turn the tables on India after three successive series losses?
Can the Australian bowlers take 20 wickets?
Can India maintain their 19-year dominance over Australia in home conditions?
These are the major questions Bet Nation looks to answer ahead of the first Test in Nagpur on Thursday.
India vs. Australia
February 9th
Australia heads to India as the number one-ranked Test nation in the world and off the back of a dominant summer. Led by Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith with the bat, the Australians whitewashed the West Indies (3-0) before defeating South Africa (2-0) in a three-test series.
Despite recent success, India enters the first Test as $1.73 favourites with Bet Nation. Australia hasn’t tasted victory in India since 2004, let alone the fact they’ve lost the past two Australian-based series against them.
Australia’s batting line-up is the best in the world, with Labuschagne (1) and Smith (2) joined by Travis Head (4) and Usman Khwaja (8) in the top 10 of the ICC Test Batting Rankings. Add David Warner to the mix – should he find form – and it’s certainly a top five that could do much damage against an Indian attack missing Jasprit Bumrah.
Australia’s bowling stocks have taken a beating with the injuries to Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood. Scott Boland is tipped to join Pat Cummins and make his sub-continent debut, while Ashton Agar will form a spin duo with Nathan Lyon. Agar showed very little in his one Test over the summer in Sydney, and with Mitchell Swepson and young Victorian Todd Murphy waiting in the wings, there will be a lot of pressure to perform in spin-friendly conditions.
As for India, they’re coming off a decisive 2-0 whitewash in Bangladesh following an enthralling 2-2 series draw with England.
They’ll be missing star wicketkeeper and the seventh-ranked batsman in the world, Rishabh Pant, following a car accident on December 30. However, the Indians will look to plunder runs through the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara. Kohli and Pujara have caused headaches for Australia for years, and it will take a disciplined bowling performance to dislodge the pair on an Indian-friendly pitch in Nagpur.
Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja could be the keys to Indian success. Both players are ranked first and second in the ICC Test All-Rounder Rankings, while Ashwin is the highest-ranked available Indian bowler at #4 in the world.
The biggest question mark for the Australians will revolve around their spin stocks and their ability to deal with the turning wickets. Can they handle the Ashwin-Jadeja one-two punch? Is Agar up to Test standard? If the answer is yes to both questions, then the Aussies look value at $3.30. But right now, there isn’t a lot of evidence to suggest yes to either question.
