The fourth and final Test match of the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy is all set to take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India. The visitors, Australia, will be eyeing a comeback of ages while India will be looking to bounce back and save their invincible status at home. The match is expected to break the record for the most attendance for a day in a Test match, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in attendance.
The Australian team management has confirmed that Steve Smith, the 33-year-old batsman, will lead the team in the final Test in the absence of Pat Cummins. Smith has retained his captaincy for one last time as the Aussie first-choice skipper has decided to stay back with his mother Martha, who is in palliative care for breast cancer.
India is likely to make a few changes to the Playing Eleven after their 9-wicket defeat at the hands of Australia. The stalwart Indian pacer, Mohammed Shami, is expected to return to the lineup, while Mohammed Siraj, who played in all three games, could be rested ahead of the 50-over series.
India started the series with a bang, crushing down the spirited Aussies who had high hopes of taking the initial edge. The hosts registered a thumping victory with the final margin of an innings and 132 to retain their supremacy at the spin fortress of Nagpur.
They faced minimal difficulties in the following fixture held at Arun Jaitley Stadium of Delhi to take an affirmative lead of 2-0. However, the Aussies turned the tables around to bring back the excitement in the four-game contest. They held a commanding position in the Indore Test right from the first delivery and stunned the home side despite skipper Smith losing the coin toss.
The head-to-head record between the two teams stands at 44-32 in favor of Australia, with 28 draws. India has added two more memorable triumphs to their head-to-head record against their arch-rivals, while the visitors have also broken their long-standing deadlock.
The Men in Blue have a dominant record in Ahmedabad, winning six of the 14 fixtures played here while losing only two games to date. However, the exotic venue of Narendra Modi Stadium has never got the opportunity to host the battle of red-ball format between these two combatants. Hence, this is going to be the very first encounter between the world’s
The Australian team management has announced that Steve Smith will be leading the charge in the absence of Pat Cummins, who has decided to stay back with his mother who is in palliative care for breast cancer. Team India may make a few changes to their lineup after their previous loss, including adding Mohammad Shami to the playing eleven.
India started the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a bang, winning the first match by an innings and 132 runs. However, Australia made a comeback in the third match, winning by a commanding margin, ending India’s winning streak of four straight games at home. The head-to-head record between the two teams stands at 44-32 in favor of Australia, with 28 draws.
The key players to watch out for in this match are Axar Patel, who has taken a whopping total of 20 wickets from two matches at this venue, and Nathan Lyon, who was the chief architect of Australia’s memorable Indore triumph.
India vs Australia 4th Test, Probable Playing XIs
The predicted playing eleven for India includes Rohit Sharma ©, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, and Mohammed Shami.
Australia’s predicted lineup includes Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith ©, Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, and Matthew Kuhnemann.
