The fifth and final Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy series between India and Australia at the iconic Sydney Test Cricket Ground (SCG) is likely to witness rain interruptions in the last two days of the match.
Sydney Test, The Wisden’s article regarding the Australia and India Border-Gavaskar Trophy match states that the match could be disrupted on the last couple of days due to rains. This is in accordance with the prediction made stating that this will be the last match of the series which is set to start on the 3rd of January at the Sydney Cricket Ground(SGC).
Another addition that was made to this test match is that it will be ‘Jane McGrath Day’ in honor of the deceased wife of the Pacers Glenn McGrath who died fighting cancer. “So on the third day at our Sydney Test match, there is a tsunami of pink, and a lot of money gets raised for cancer funds and awareness in Australia”
Wisden, quoting Google Weather foresees a lot of clouds on the first day: “With a 25% possibility of rain, this will drop to just 5% on the second”. A large spell of the second day will be tang together with higher spots of 34 degrees celsius which is likely on Sunday.
The inclement weather starting from day four and continuing overnight could have an impact on the last two days of the match this drizzle could also continue on day five. Also there are bad omens suggesting a constant drizzle is likely to occur on the fifth day of the Sydney Test match.
Also, as per BBC Weather, there is a chance of some rain showers on Friday particularly during the early evening hours. There will be some sunshine during the weekends. And while there is a considerable chance of rainfall on the night of Monday (68 percent), within day four of the match, it is expected that on the eighth day of the match, weather will be extremely good. With regards to the weather on day five, things do not look good at all and heavy showers seem to be the case. Thunderstorms seem to be the case here as well.
India is affected by form of their key batters, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant, who seem rather rusty having only combined for a single fifty plus score throughout the series. However, after some terrific bowling by Jasprit Bumrah who in four matches has bagged 30 wickets at 12.83 average, India have not been able to make a significant impact in the series and are down 1-2.
Australia, on the contrary, have a setback as Josh Hazlewood is out of the series with a calf strain. And, reports have emerged that frontline bowler Mitchell Starc has also been sent for scans just two days before the match in Sydney.
The series is currently tilted in Australia’s favour by 2-1, and Australia are placed well to advance with South Africa into the ICC World Test Championship. But, if India wins the match and levels the series, apart from defending the title, they will remain in contention for the ICC World Test Championship, provided the results of the Australia-Sri Lanka series next year do favour them.
Australian squad is led by Pat Cummins with the following players: Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, and Beau Webster.
The captain of the Indian squad is Rohit Sharma and he is assisted by Jasprit Bumrah (vc). Other players in the selection include Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel. Furthermore, the Indian team comprises Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar and their reserves Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal.
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