India were off to a poor start again as KL Rahul lasted only six balls. Rahul, who came in for unavailable Rohit Sharma, was caught at first slip by Shaun Marsh off Josh Hazlewood to leave India at 1/10 in the very second over on Day 1 of the Sydney Test Thursday.
Rahul's fall brought Cheteshwar Pujara early in the centre, to be with Mayank Agarwal, who's playing his second match after making debut in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne last week.
Earlier, India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat in the fourth and final Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). India made two changes from the eleven that won the third Test in Melbourne with Lokesh Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav coming in for Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma. Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and pacer Umesh Yadav, who were named on Wednesday among 13 players, did not make it to the playing eleven.
Advertisement
Australia also made two changes with Peter Handscomb and Marnus Labuschagne replacing Aaron Finch and Mitchell Marsh.
India have already taken an unassailable 2-1 lead in the four-match series.
The Teams:
India: Virat Kohli (c), Lokesh Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah.
Australia: Tim Paine (c & wk), Marcus Harris, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
(PTI)
