Rohit Sharma (L) with Jasprit Bumrah during a practice session
| Photo Credit: AFP
Jasprit Bumrah won the toss for India after replacing the axed Rohit Sharma as captain and elected to bat first in the fifth and final test against Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday (January 3, 2025).
Pace bowler Bumrah stepped into the role and led India to a thumping victory when Rohit, who has struggled for runs in the series, missed the first test in Perth for personal reasons.
Shubman Gill comes into the Indian top order to replace Rohit in one of two changes to the side with Prasidh Krishna in for Akash Deep, who is struggling with a back problem, in the pace attack.
Australia lead the series 2-1 after rebounding from the thrashing in the Perth opener to win the tests in Adelaide and Melbourne, which sandwiched a draw in Brisbane.
India could still retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and keep alive their hopes of a spot in this year’s World Test Championship (WTC) final against South Africa with a victory over the next five days.
Australia, who will lock up the second berth in the WTC final with a win, handed a first test cap to all-rounder Beau Webster after dropping Mitchell Marsh from an otherwise unchanged team.
Despite some morning drizzle, the weather forecast for Sydney, which has lost more days to rain than any other Australian test venue, is good for the first three days with some showers predicted for Monday and Tuesday.
Teams:
Australia – Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (captain), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
India – Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah (captain), Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna. (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
Published – January 03, 2025 04:52 am IST
