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Time for the anthems… ‘Advance Australia Fair’ first. The baggy green boys have their caps off and their arms around each other. Great to see Albo shoulder to shoulder with Smith singing his heart out. Now ‘Jana Gana Mana’ for India. No contact between the players and PM this time. They stand alone but together, arms by their side and, at its climax, with palms brought together in thanks.
The prime ministers depart and the players remain…
We’re talking a lot about the crowd today, potentially the largest in history for a day’s Test cricket (although the record for the stadium is 101,566 when Gujarat Titans defeated the Rajasthan Royals in last year’s Indian Premier League final).
For those who don’t know what we’re yammering about, here’s a primer…
We’re getting our first glimpse of the pitch and – shock! horror! – there’s greenery on it. That doesn’t mean there’s not kryptonite underneath though. But it does bode well for the batters who are collectively averaging 20.74 this series (compared with 41.36 in 2008 and falling sharply in every series since).
Will Travis Head bring his battle axe to this first session and put on a show of batting pyrotechnics for the prime ministers and this record (?) crowd? Head was wonderful to watch in the run chase at Indore. He had five runs from his first 26 balls in Indore but then rattled the sabre to finish with 49 from 53 with half a dozen fours and a marvellous six to get Australia home in style.
For those who came in late, here’s Geoff Lemon’s preview…
As the prime ministers hold their captain’s arms aloft, Australia’s team sheet shows no surprises. They have named an unchanged XI whereas India have brought back fast-bowler Mohammed Shami and given Mohammed Siraj a rest.
Team line-ups
India XI: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Shreyas Iyer, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 KS Bharat (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Axar Patel, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Mohammed Shami.
Australia XI: 1 Travis Head, 2 Usman Khawaja, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Peter Handscomb, 6 Cameron Green, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Todd Murphy, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Matthew Kuhnemann.
Australia win the toss and will bat
Rohit Sharma tosses the coin and Smith calls correctly. “We’ll have a bat,” says the Australia captain.
Interesting start to the Test with Prime Ministers Albanese and Modi skirting the boundary on a rolling stage that is some sort of vehicular mashup of Mad Max Fury Road and the Iron Throne (but with cricket stumps instead of swords). Not a bad metaphor for political life I’m thinking, but the two leaders are cheery enough, waving to the mob. Is it a record crowd? We’re about to find out…
Preamble
Namaste cricket lovers and welcome to Ahmedabad in the Indian state of Gujarat for day one of the fourth and final Test between Australia and India in the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. I’m Angus Fontaine and I’ll be your eyes and ears for the next few hours.
The series ledger stands at 2-1. That’s remarkable given Australia were so comprehensively outplayed in Nagpur and Delhi and went into the Indore Test without the injured David Warner and Josh Hazlewood and also missing captain Pat Cummins, who had flown home to a family crisis. Yet under the bold leadership of Steve Smith, and thanks to a lovely first innings 80 by Usman Khawaja, 11 brilliant wickets from Nathan Lyon and a nerveless run chase by Travis Head, Australia won by nine wickets.
Now it’s India under pressure. The home side must win in Ahmedabad to regain some honour, but most importantly, to secure a place in the World Test Championship against Australia in London. As if that weren’t challenge enough, both sides walk onto Narendra Modi Stadium today in front of what is expected to be the largest Test cricket crowd in history – a 100,000-plus attendance that would usurp the current record of 91,112 for the 2013-14 Ashes at the MCG.
So, in every sense, there’s plenty to play for.
As it was for the first three Tests, the pitch has been a major talking point. Or in Ahmedabad’s case, the pitches. Not content with rolling out spin-friendly surfaces to suit their attack and dismantle Australia’s left-handers (a plan that backfired on the Indore wicket later given a “poor” rating by the ICC), India had two pitches ready for this Test and only decided yesterday which it would be.
It adds yet another pinch of spice to what Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese calls “an affectionate but fierce sporting rivalry”. Albo will be in the throng today, joining India PM Modi to celebrate “75 years of friendship through cricket”. The two leaders will visit the India-Australia Platinum Hall of Fame in the stadium before meeting the players ahead of the national anthems.
Albanese will be at the Ahmedabad colosseum for about an hour before moving on to other commitments in Mumbai and Delhi. Modi will stay on to do some TV commentary, no doubt revelling in the record crowd at a stadium that bears his name but also the giant photo of he and Albanese on the sight screen.
That said, of all the people here today, VIPs and otherwise, the most important characters are the 11 men on either side who will fight out this Test match. They will be on the field shortly and we’ll have a veritable banquet of ceremonies and traditions: team announcements, coin toss, anthems and meet and greet.
It’s gonna be weird, but wonderful, so stay tuned.
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