The India vs Australia Test series was always going to be hard fought on the field and the war of words made its way off the field too to add to the spice heading into the third Test which takes place in Ranchi from Thursday.
Around all the talk about Australia’s use of DRS it could be forgotten that India levelled the series with a fine win in Bangalore so with two matches remaining the series couldn’t be better placed with it being 1-1 now.
India
I don’t know whether India were surprised in the first Test, whether they began to believe their own hype and got complacent or just had an off week but whatever it was it made their response in Bangalore all the more impressive and now most judges would expect them to go on and win the series.
Six wicket hauls for both main Indian spinners certainly helped in Bangalore but it was their better batting that won them the day. KL Rahul made half-centuries in both innings and Cheteshwar Pujara joined the party too and if they bat as well again in this match and a couple of others step up you would expect India to be hard to beat.
Australia
The Australians deserve great credit for surprising the Indians from the off in this series but they might be ruing not stamping home an advantage they had built up in the second Test. At the halfway mark they had a lead of 87 runs which should have been significant but they allowed India back into the game and were properly punished.
The flip side of that was that they showed once again that they could compete with India in these conditions and if they can hold their nerve and win the big moments then they might be able to pull off another shock too. Nobody expects them to do anything from here so they can play with a fair amount of freedom which is never a bad thing.
Team News
India are expected to have Murali Vijay back for this match so the return of Abhinav Mukund is likely to be short lived. Hardik Pandya has been ruled out so the rest of the side may remain unchanged.
Australia will be forced into a couple of changes as Mitchell Marsh and Mitchell Starc have gone home with injuries. We know Pat Cummins is likely to replace Starc but a list of four could replace Marsh. Glenn Maxwell may be at the forefront of that list.
JSCA International Stadium Complex
This is the first Test match to be held in Ranchi. There was talk of three pitches being prepared and Virat Kohli getting to choose which one to use but that appears to be nonsense.
Both captains have said they expect the wicket to break up after the opening day so this could be a massive toss for the sides to win. First innings runs will be vitally important.
Betting
Given that this is the first match on this ground and we don’t have a huge amount of previous information to go on I’m not going to go too big on this match but I can’t avoid a cheeky punt on the visitors here.
It may well be that they are better for the injury to Mitchell Marsh. He had contributed nothing of note to the series anyway and it might be that someone like Glenn Maxwell comes in and takes a couple of wickets and plays a cameo which has an effect on the match. We’ve seen Australia competitive in both matches so far and with the toss likely to have a significant effect on the outcome the 7/2 on a win for the tourists looks too big.
Tips
Back Australia to win 3rd Test for a 2/10 stake at 4.50 with BetVictor
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