Ind vs Aus, 1st Test: Opening woes haunt two top-class bowling units

Adelaide [Australia], December 16 : The Indian team is all set to take on Australia in the much-anticipated four-match Test series which begins with the day-night contest here at Adelaide Oval from Thursday.
The Virat Kohli-led side will play their second pink-ball Test and first longest format game under lights in overseas conditions. The visitors played two tour matches against Australia A and acquired a reasonable knowledge of the conditions so far.
Apart from Kohli and KL Rahul, most of the players featured in both the three-day practice games with the second match seeing the visitors almost playing their full strength squad under the captaincy of Ajinkya Rahane.
Both the teams were very hard to distinguish in the limited-overs series as hosts won the ODI series 2-1 while the Men in Blue walked away with the honours in the T20I series 2-1.
India will look to find an opening partner for Mayank Agarwal in the absence of Rohit Sharma for the first two games of the series. Youngster Prithvi Shaw failed to deliver with the bat at the top in both the tour matches, accumulating just 52 runs in the four innings. Shaw's dismal-run has opened up the doors for Rahul to join Agarwal in the opening.
Shubman Gill is another option while many feel he should join skipper Kohli, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Rahane in the middle-order duties on the tough Australian pitches.
Another tough call for the management will be to choose between youngster Rishabh Pant and experienced Wriddhiman Saha for wicket-keeping duties. Pant has made a solid case after scoring an unbeaten century in the second practice game.
Australia too is struggling to find an opening combination in the absence of their first-choice players David Warner and Will Pucovski. The addition of Marcus Harris will surely give some relief to the Tim Paine-led side as he is likely to open the batting for the hosts along with Harris or lacklustre Joe Burns.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade can also bat up in the order if the team struggles to find a replacement for Warner and Pucovski.
Steve Smith's back soreness added another misery to the injury-ridden Australian squad. As per a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, Smith trained for about 10 minutes on Tuesday at the Adelaide Oval before leaving for the Australian dressing-room.
Smith also did not turn up for batting practice at the nets. Cricket Australia spokesperson later confirmed that the batsman would not be returning to training until Wednesday.
Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Paine, all-rounders Cameron Green and Moises Henriques will strengthen the middle-order.
Fast bowling is the strength for both the teams as they have wicket-taking bowlers in their squad. Indian pace-attack will be led by Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah while the Australian attack contains Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood.
Experienced Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravindra Jadeja are the three spinning options for the touring side whereas Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Swepson are the two available spinners for Australia in the squad.
It will a fierce battle between the two best cricketing nations as they take on each other in the longest format of the game. The series will be a treat to watch for cricketing fans from all over the world.
Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner.
India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj.