Over-by-over report: The highly anticipated four-Test series gets under way in Nagpur. Join our writers for updates from VCA Stadium
That was a big toss to win and Pat Cummins’ run of luck with the coin has continued. He will now get to set the tempo of the Test and give India a big total to chase in the last innings. But the major shock is that Travis Head has been left out of the Test XI and Peter Handscomb will return to the middle-order alongside Matthew Renshaw.
Yet few of those 102 Tests have carried the intrigue this one has. The Indian curators have sparked outrage around the cricket world with pitch preparations at VCA Stadium. Knowing the Australian squad is stacked with left-handers, footage has shown them watering and rolling the centre of the wicket but leaving the ‘corridors of uncertainty’ for the lefties bone dry and ripe for spin.
We know Cummins is without his injured pace stalwarts Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc and allrounder Cameron Green. It opens the door for cult hero Scott Boland to play his first Test outside Australia and right-handed No 6 Peter Handscomb to usurp Matt Renshaw and play his first Test since India in 2019.
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