Team India will now prepare for the highly anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which includes four Test matches against the formidable Australians. After a remarkable start to the new year with victories in the ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, team India will now prepare for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Beginning on February 9, the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur will host the series’ opening match.
Team India has won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy three times before, including back-to-back series victories in Australia. Now, they want to keep that streak going and get into the World Test Championship (WTC) grand finale for the second time in a row.
However, the team led by Rohit Sharma will be without two of their stars, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah, throughout the series. However, they will also welcome back all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja with open arms as he recovers from an injury.
Australia, on the other hand, appears to be fully prepared, particularly to counter the threat posed by the Indian spinners. However, experienced pacers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood have been ruled out of at least the first Test, putting a significant dent in their chances.
Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium Nagpur pitch report
After a gap of more than five years, Nagpur’s Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium will host its first Test match, with India and Sri Lanka playing in November 2017.
With the hard new ball, the pacers will come into play on the fresh wicket. However, spinners are likely to dominate the match right away, especially after “Day 3,” when the pitch will start to get worse.
As for the batters, they will probably have a good time in the first innings and try to score as many runs as they can while the wicket stays true to its bounce. In the 20 Test innings played here, teams have only scored more than 500 runs three times.
At this surface, the captain who won the toss is likely to bat first, even though teams that batted first and second have both won equal numbers of matches in the six previous Tests played here.
Weather Forecast
There is no chance of rain on any of the match days or in the days leading up to the match, according to the weather forecast for the week of Thursday, February 9 through Monday, February 13. The maximum temperature during the playing days will be 34 degrees Celsius, which is equivalent to 36 degrees Celsius. Therefore, the weather will not affect the Test series opener.
Where to watch:
Match Start Time (Everyday): From Thursday, February 9 to Monday, February 13 Television Channels: Live Streaming for Star Sports 1 (English and HD), Star Sports 1 (Hindi and Tamil), Star Sports 1 (Kannada and Telugu): Hotstar on Disney+ (subscription required)