Australia tour of India

2nd Test Match: IND vs AUS

Preview

The second test match of the Border-Gavaskar Test series will take place on Friday, 17th February at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi from 9:30 AM onwards. There have been many controversies on the pitch of Delhi, the pitch which has become a graveyard for the batters has also shown many exciting matches. However, Indian batters will have to be more careful as the Aussies camp is ready to make a couple of changes ahead of this match.

The Visitors won the toss in the first Test and decided to bat first. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who was making his comeback after 8 months, took his 11th fifer by thrashing up Australia's batting order. Labuschagne was only the standout guy from the Australian camp with his 49 runs playing 123 deliveries in the first test match's first innings. Ashwin also claimed his 450th test wicket by surprising Alex Carrey behind his legs.

India's skipper and opening batter Rohit Sharma scored 120 runs with 15 fours and 2 sixes and completed his 9th test ton. The Visitors then suffered from the heroic batting of all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Both left-handed batters scored half-centuries to take India to 400. 22-year-old debutant Todd Murphy took 7 wickets for 124 runs. With a huge lead of 223 runs, the hosts dominated AUS in the third innings. It was Ravi Ashwin this time, who took 5 wickets to clear Australian batters for just 91 runs on the 3rd day's play. 

With the win, India fancy their chances to qualify for the World Test Series Final for the consecutive time if they win the next 2 test matches of the ongoing series. India also becomes the rank one Test team by toppling down Australia on Wednesday but hours after that Australia claimed their throne once again. With that Rohit Sharma-led team, India became the number-one team across all formats.

Skipper Rohit Sharma will likely open with KL Rahul once again for the 2nd test match as well. The 36-year-old batter has centuries in the last two innings (one against NZ in the ODI and one in the first Test). Rohit Sharma now averages over 75 in 31 innings he played in India with 8 centuries and 6 half-centuries. But 6 half centuries in the 8 innings of the last Border Gavaskar Trophy in India will give him enough leverage over Shubman Gill, who is having a terrific run with the bat. The 34-year-old veteran batter Virat Kohli is returning to his home ground after a gap of 6 years. He has scored the most runs at this venue. Kohli has scored 467 runs in 6 innings, including a double hundred. 

Pujara will be playing his 100th test match on Friday. Only 4 batters have played more deliveries in Tests since Pujara made his debut. In his career, he has contributed to 30.6% of the runs his team scored and 33.4% of balls played. In the middle order, Shreyas Iyer is in contention to replace the last match's debutant SKY in the squad if declared fit. With the like of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Ashwin, and Axar Patel, India has batting depth till number 9. And don’t forget Shami’s blistering knock of 36 runs in the first Test which included 3 sixes as well.

It was the three spinners and two seamers' strategy for the Hosts in the first Test in Nagpur. It looks like they will stick to the plan. 36-year-old Ashwin has 27 wickets in 4 tests at Delhi. After claiming his 31st fifer, he has now jumped to number two in the bowler’s ranking. Ashwin also has 97 wickets against Australia in 19 Tests. On the other hand, the world's number one all-rounder Jadeja has 2 centuries and 2 half-centuries in his last 4 tests, with bat and 17 wickets with the ball. The likes of Mohammed Shami and Siraj will lead the pace attack.

For Australia, it is going to be a tough call while heading into this match. Warner, Smith, and Lyon are the only players from the current squad with experience playing a Test in Delhi. Usman Khwaja and Travis Head are likely to open for Australia in this match. David Wrner is likely to be dropped for this match after his performance against Aswhin, who has trapped him 11 times. Khawaja is Australia’s leading run scorer in the current World test series cycle, but he averages below 28 against India in Tests. The World's number one test batter Marnus Labuschagne looked pretty confident in the first Test. He has scored 530 runs against India in 11 innings. 

The former number one test batter Steve Smith averages 72.16 against India in 15 tests with 8 centuries and 5 half-centuries. With almost one 50-plus score per test, he has the best average (60.16) amongst the Australian players in India. The Visitors missed Travis Head in the first Test, as Peter Handscomb didn’t add much with the bat. Hopefully, they will prefer Head over Hands in the second test, with the chances of Mitchell Starc being added for this contest as well.

Both nations have played 103 Test matches with India winning 31 matches and the Aussies 43 in which one ended in a tie and 28 times both teams settled with a drawn. India has won the last two Test series by 2-1 margins. India and Australia have played a total of 27 Test series against each other. Of these Men in Blue have won 10 times whereas Aussies have won 12 series, with 5 series ending in draws.

Match Details

Match: IND vs AUS, 2nd Test Match, Australia tour of India 2023

Date: Friday, 17 February - Tuesday, 21 February

Time: 09:30 AM

Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi

Pitch & Weather Report

Along with the venue, and timing of this Test match between India and Australia, it becomes necessary to look at the weather and pitch reports as well. If we talk about the pitch, it seems that this pitch will also help the spin bowlers completely.

The 2nd Test will be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, on February 17th from 9:30 AM. The venue holds a capacity of 48000 spectators and has hosted 36 Tests, 28 ODIs & 13 T20Is so far. Windies registered the highest total of 644 runs at this venue, while India has the lowest (75). Since 1987-88, the Hosts India hasn’t lost a test at this venue. Arun Jaitley Stadium is famous for Anil Kumble’s 10 wickets for 74 against Pakistan.

After the first day, the pitch could see even more ball rotation. Now it is important to pay attention to the weather as well. Winter season is about the end in the Northern part of India as well. The weather is going to be normal on the first day, but it can be cloudy on the second and fourth days of this test match. During these 5 days, the maximum temperature will be 26 degrees Celsius and the minimum temperature will be 15 degree Celsius with a light wind of 5 km/h.

IND vs AUS Squads

IND: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (VC), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat, Ishan Kishan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.

AUS: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (VC), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

IND vs AUS: Probable XIs

IND: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav/Iyer, KS Bharat, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Siraj, Mohammad Shami

AUS: Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Peter Handscomb, Matt Renshaw, Alex Carey (wk), Tod Murphy, Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc

Match Prediction

India hasn’t lost a test series at home since 2012. Nothing is more difficult than playing against the Hosts at home. They are now the number-one team across all formats. In the last four Tests, they have had three victories over Australia.

The Delhi pitch shows some strong stats leaning toward India. In the last 12 tests at Delhi, India has registered 10 wins. When you are the number one team, and you have the world number two bowler in the squad who is also the world number two all-rounder chasing the world number one all-rounder who has just made a mind-blowing comeback for you, it’s a blind choice that you will win the game. In case you are wondering, this world's number one and two duos have lost just one test out of 38 played together.

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