India will look to make a comeback in the series when they take on Australia in the second Test at MCG on Saturday. The visitors suffered a heavy defeat by eight wickets to Australia in the first Test. They recorded their lowest ever total in Test cricket as well.
Things have gone a little more difficult for them now that their regular skipper, and also their best batsman, Virat Kohli, won’t be available for the remainder of the series. India have made some positive changes though. While Shubman Gill and Mohammad Siraj will make their debut, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja have been included in the XI as well. This venue has produced some of the best Test matches between these two teams. Without further adieu, let’s have a look at the Important numbers ahead of the game.
- Shubman Gill and Mohammad Siraj will become the 297th and 298th players respectively to play Test cricket for India. Shahbaz Nadeem was the last player to make his Test debut for India, in 2019.
- This will be only the second instance in SENA countries since 2014 that Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin will be featuring in the same Test XI. India have played 28 Tests in SENA since Ashwin and Jadeja’s debuts and they had featured together in the XI only once — at Manchester in 2014.
- Spinners have a dismal bowling average of 52.25 in the last five years at MCG. But Jadeja picked up a five-wicket haul, at an excellent average of 25.40, the last time he played at this venue in 2018-19.
- Steve Smith averages 113.50 at the MCG. That’s the second-highest average among players who have played more than one Test at this venue. Sir Don Bradman (128.53) has the highest average. Smith has four centuries to his name at this venue once again.
- India will miss Virat Kohli a lot in this match. He has the second most number of runs (316) by an Indian at this venue and has an excellent average of 52.66 as well. Sachin Tendulkar (449) has recorded the highest number of runs by an Indian here.
- Jasprit Bumrah had a grand outing at this venue in the 2018-19 tour. He picked up nine wickets in the match, at an average of 9.55, and it included a six-wicket haul as well.
- Pat Cummins has an excellent bowling record at the MCG. He has picked up 18 wickets in the three Test matches he has played at this venue, at an excellent average of 16.16. He will be a major threat to the Indian batsmen in this match.