The Border Gavaskar series is underway in Nagpur, where Australia opted to bat upon winning the toss. Todd Murphy is making his debut for the Australian team, whereas Team India handed Test debuts to the duo of Suryakumar Yadav and KS Bharat.
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There is a very low bounce on the wicket even on the first day of the match, and it is expected to get worse as the match goes on. The opening duo of Usman Khawaja and David Warner was back in the pavilion after just 2.1 overs. Mohammed Siraj took the wicket of Khawaja, whereas Warner’s wicket went cartwheeling against Shami.
The pitch is easiest to bat in the first innings, and it will only get tougher. If Australia want to do well, they will aim to set a respectable total in the 1st innings. It will be interesting to see when the Indian team will unleash their spin trio of Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Axar Patel.
When Bumrah will return
Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj are leading the pace attack of the Indian team in the 1st Test in Nagpur, and the duo of Jaydev Unadkat (He is missing the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Karnataka) and Umesh Yadav is sitting on the bench. However, the team is missing the services of star pacer Jasprit Bumrah.
Bumrah is out of action since September last year. The ace Indian pacer missed the Asia Cup 2022, but he was back in the home T20I series against Australia where the played the 2nd and the 3rd T20I. However, he got injured yet again and missed the T20 World Cup as well due to a stress back fracture.
Bumrah was included in the ODI squad against Sri Lanka last month, but he was omitted from the squad just ahead of the series. He is currently training in the NCA under the supervision of Nitin Patel (Head of the Sports Science Wing). It has been said that Bumrah is bowling at full throttle, but he is unlikely to be involved in the Test series against Australia.
