After a wonderful first Test, Australia and India will set off in the second Test of the four in their ongoing series on Friday when the two sides meet again in Perth. India drew first blood in Adelaide and will be out to secure a share of the series here.
Australia know they must avoid defeat in this series to maintain a chance of winning it while a win would really set things up nicely heading to Melbourne on Boxing Day. This match is nicely set up after that first game.
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Australia
In a very competitive match in the first game, Australia were not without their chances in Adelaide but they could never truly get dominance in the match. The main reason for that was a lack of big runs in the first innings which even in Australia is still a big thing. If Australia are to get their series back on track then they really need their top order to stand up and be counted.
If that can happen then we saw in the first game that Australia have the firepower with the ball to do some damage although in fairness we knew that would be the case anyway, we just had it officially confirmed for us. You sense this is a big match for the future of Australian cricket because they are teetering on the edge of a real crisis.
India
I would imagine there were plenty of people who would have expected India to be competitive in the series after they gave England a challenging time of things in the summer. The one thing those people would have been less sure of was whether India would have enough about them to get over the line in matches rather than be competitive and win sessions.
In many ways, although they won in Adelaide, it was a similar story for India in that one man dominated their batting but this time Australia didn’t have the batting depth down the order that England have to take advantage. If the rest of the Indian top order can come alive and support Pujara they are going to be hard to knock off in this series.
Team News
Australia have resisted the temptation to make changes to their squad for this match and will most likely go in with the same XI that went down in Adelaide despite their batsmen struggling. That means that Mitchell Marsh will miss out.
India have been forced into a couple of changes for this match as Ravi Ashwin and Rohit Sharma have been ruled out through injury. Ravi Jadeja will come in for Ashwin with Hanuma Vihari in for Sharma.
Perth Stadium
This is the first Test match that will have been held at the new Perth venue. It remains to be seen whether the drop in pitch can replicate that of the WACA but the curator has said he has put together the bounciest wicket he has been able to produce which sounds promising. On the eve of the match the wicket was green so the fast bowlers should really enjoy life here.
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Betting
Given that there is some pace and bounce expected in the pitch then I expect Australia to win the match but I’m not sure I can trust their batting line up to deliver at odds on so I’ll go to the performances. The seamers either have an understandably high line or a low price but Tim Paine has an attractive one. He should get a lot of catches in this match and much like we saw from Rishabh Pant he can go some way to achieving his 100.5pt target. He is a capable batsman in his own right and could only need 40 or 50 with the bat. Whether it is runs or catches that get him there I think he’ll get to 101pts in this one.
Speaking of Rishabh Pant, I think he is a little too big in the top India batsman market. I say that because if there is one thing that Indians do not like it is pace and bounce but when we saw Pant in the IPL he was thriving playing cut shots and pull shots and while his innings is likely to be aggressive and a little harem scarem that might be the best way for an Indian player to put a score on the board. I think the back foot shots will be the order of the day here and so I’ll have a dabble on Pant in the first innings India market.
Tips
WON – Back T.Paine’s Performance – Over 100.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back R.Pant Top India 1st Inns Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 11.00 with William Hill
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