Australia won the toss on Thursday and decided to bat in the fourth and final cricket test against India on an expected batter-friendly pitch.
India has a 2-1 lead in the four-match series and has already clinched the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which it has held since 2017.
The pitch for the fourth test at the Narendra Modi Stadium is expected to play better than the wickets in the first three tests. While there are dry patches on the surface and spin will be a factor, it should help the batsmen more than the first three tests.
Australia fielded an unchanged side, going into the test with three frontline spinners. Pat Cummins has not returned for the match as he continues to be home with his ailing mother, and Steve Smith again leads the side.
India made one change — fast bowler Mohammed Siraj was rested and Mohammed Shami came in as his replacement.
India must win the fourth test in a bid to qualify for the World Test Championship final from June 7-11 against Australia at The Oval in England. A loss or a draw would mean Sri Lanka’s results in its two-test series against New Zealand would come in to play.
Australia qualified for the final after winning the third test against India in Indore by nine wickets. India won the first test in Nagpur by an innings and 132 runs and the second in Delhi by six wickets.
India and Australia are also celebrating 75 years of ‘Friendship Through Cricket.’
To mark the occasion, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese were in attendance for the first day Thursday. A special coin was minted for the occasion and was used at the toss. While the day’s proceedings kicked off with folk music and dance, a crowd in excess of 100,000 was expected to attend the first day.
The official record for highest attendance for a single day of test cricket is 91,112 on the first day of the Ashes Boxing Day test between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in December 2013.
Ahead of the first ball, the two prime ministers took a lap of honor across the ground.
Teams: India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Srikar Bharat, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav.
Australia: Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith (captain), Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann, Nathan Lyon.
