India vs Australia: First Test preview, how to watch & prediction

If I could be anybody on the planet for the next five weeks, I’d be Nathan Lyon.

For any Australia team, let alone cricket where it had conquered the world for well over two decades till not so long, to admit it is the second-best ahead of a duel is inconceivable.

The MCA stadium in Pune is making its debut as a Test venue, becoming the 25th stadium to hots a Test match in India.

Without the huge advantage that batting first gave you earlier, and with days two and three still offering good batting conditions, it is batting on day four that is creating problems for visitors, where maybe exhausted minds are leading to more erratic application.

The numbers would suggest he is a great already, but we don’t call him that. His form is so crucial for Australia and while that didn’t prevent them from losing 0-3 in Sri Lanka, his presence is absolutely critical. “You have to try and take wickets in other ways”.

It’s a fact that spin, as usual, will play that pivotal role.

Steve Smith’s Australian team has been written off by nearly anyone who is looking forward to the Border-Gavaskar series which starts with the first Test in Pune on Thursday.

“Certain preparations we have done and we have a good headspace going into the series. We are not anxious about what everyone believes and thinks about this team”, Lyon told reporters.

If he can get 24 wickets in the series, it gives us a bit of a chance. Maybe Mitch Marsh’s fourth stump line and straight bombs really are the key. “I’m confident in the squad we’ve got here to compete against India”, he said. He has played in the IPL and will look to use that experience here.

Australia (probable): 1 David Warner, 2 Matt Renshaw, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Shaun Marsh, 5 Peter Handscomb, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Steve O’Keefe, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

“For us, it’s about not worrying too much about results over here”. Wickets had to be earned, patience was needed and that is as good Test cricket should be.

They both bat really well, too, and are likely to be coming in after Virat Kohli has set things up.

If India do however provide playing surfaces that turn form the get go, Australia have Mitchell Swepson, a leg spinner who has shown tremendous promise in his young cricketing career and even received backing from Shane Warne, as well as the left arm spin of Agar. Jadeja bowling into the rough to the left-handers makes it so hard to play.

“It depends on what make-up of team we go with”.

But as the premise itself stated, such a grand stage needs heroes to rise and do what they best – win hearts, and helped their respective sides to victories.

“When the ball is shifting he’s one of the best going around”. We’d like to keep it that way rather than look at the series.

I reckon Warner will score plenty of runs for us but it probably won’t be enough.

When asked about the importance of reverse swing available on the Indian pitches, Smith said: “It (reverse swing) is going to be pretty important in this series, you know, I think, looking at this wicket out here, looks like it is going to be pretty slow”. He also played in 71 one-day internationals.