Australia hope to strengthen their position at the top of the ICC World Test Championship table as they take on India in the second Test in Melbourne on Boxing Day – December 26. Plenty of team changes are in the offing for India who received a mauling in the first Test despite being ahead in the game heading into what turned out to be the final day. They are without skipper Virat Kohli, who is off on his paternity leave, with Ajinkya Rahane due to lead the side. Shubman Gill could come in for Prithvi Shaw and open the batting on his Test debut. With Mohammad Shami ruled out, one of Mohammad Siraj or Navdeep Saini could step in. Siraj has played for India A in Australia, New Zealand, England, West Indies and South Africa and has a fair bit of experience even if not at the highest level.
Australia, on the other hand, have all but indicated that they would be fielding an unchanged playing XI. The hosts will be banking on their pace attack to once again keep the Indian batting line-up, in the absence of stat batsman Virat Kohli, silent. “I’ll be a pretty courageous man to change the playing XI this Test match after the last one. Unless something happens over the next few days and that can in the world we live but we are going with the same XI,” Langer said ahead of the second Test.
LIVE Cricket Stream India vs Australia 2nd Test
The India vs Australia 2nd Test match will take place on Saturday, December 26.
India vs Australia 2nd Test match will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The India vs Australia 2nd Test match will start at 5 AM IST. The toss will take place at 4.30 AM IST.
India vs Australia 2nd Test match will be broadcasted on Sony Sports network TV in India.
India vs Australia 2nd Test match will live streaming will be available on Sonyliv app and Jio TV in India.
India: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill, Ajinkya Rahane (C), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav.
Australia: Joe Burns, Matt Wade, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Tim Paine (C/ wk), Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood.
India: Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (C), Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Navdeep Saini, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav.
Australia: Joe Burns, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Tim Paine (wk/C), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Harris, Moises Henriques, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Mitchell Swepson, Will Pucovski.
