Rohit wins the toss and elects to bat first as has been the trend in pink-ball Tests. “Batting in the middle order, which is different, but ready for the challenge,” he says. He has been listed to bat at No.6. India bring back R Ashwin for Washington Sundar. No Jadeja. Padikkal and Jurel, meanwhile, make way for Rohit and Gill.
Cummins had confirmed Australia’s only change on the eve of this Test: Boland in for Hazlewood, who is nursing a side strain.
Australia: 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Nathan McSweeney, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith,5 Travis Head, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Alex Carey(wk), 8 Pat Cummins(capt), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Scott Boland
India: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Shubman Gill, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Rishabh Pant(wk), 6 Rohit Sharma (capt), 7 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Harshit Rana, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj
