Australia won the toss and chose to bat in the fourth and final Test against India in Brisbane on Friday. Tim Paine, the Australian skipper, said the pitch would be good to bat on for the first two days despite some cracks. Marcus Harris was included in the Australia side after Will Pucovski suffered a shoulder injury during the Sydney Test. The Brisbane Test is a momentous occasion for Nathan Lyon as he becomes the 13th Australian player to play 100 Tests. The offspinner needs just four more wickets to become the first Australian offspinner and second overall after Harbhajan Singh to go reach 400 wickets in Tests. However, for the Indian cricket team, there were some big changes. Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah were ruled out of the match along with Hanuma Vihari and Ravindra Jadeja, meaning there were two debutants for India
T Natarajan and Washington Sundar were handed their debut caps. Natarajan, who made his debut in the limited-overs leg against Australia, became the 300th player to wear the Indian Test cap while Ravichandran Ashwin handed the Test cap to Washington Sundar. The Indian cricket team has been plagued by injuries on the whole tour. Ravindra Jadeja suffered a dislocated thumb during the Sydney Test that has ruled him out of the series while Hanuma Vihari suffered a grade 2 hamstring tear which will see him miss this Test as well as the England series potentially. Shardul Thakur has also been included, meaning that the Indian pace attack had a combined experience of just four Tests. Mayank Agarwal was also included in the batting line-up, which meant Rishabh Pant would continue to play as the wicketkeeper-batsman.
Ravichandran Ashwin was also nursing a sore back while Jasprit Bumrah suffered an abdominal strain. This comes on the back of Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav being ruled out after the Tests in Adelaide and Melbourne. The Indian cricket team’s injury woes were further compounded with a turbulent build-up to this Test, with the hotel in Queensland reportedly not up to “international standards” while the comments by the shadow health minister and sports minister on the Indian cricket team were not looked upon well.
Australia has not lost a Test at the Gabba since 1988 when the West Indies defeated them by nine wickets. Since then, Australia has won 24 and drawn seven Tests at the venue which is considered their fortress.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Mayank Agarwal, Rishabh Pant(w), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, T Natarajan
Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Matthew Wade, Cameron Green, Tim Paine(w/c), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
