The upcoming third Test match between India and Australia in Indore will be a special occasion for the host’s star batter, Virat Kohli, as he is set to play his 200th international match at home. The Indian team, which is currently leading the four-match series by 2-0, will take on Australia starting from Wednesday. The Indian spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel have been the standout performers for the team in the series so far.
3rd Test for India and Australia Date, Timing, Venue
Match: India vs Australia
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Date: Mar 01, Wed – Mar 05, Sun (March 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)
Time: 11pm EST (-1d) | 4am GMT | 9:30am Local IST
Venue: Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore
Live Updates: IND vs AUS live score
Toss Update: India vs Australia 3rd Test Match
Rohit Sharma has won the toss and elected to bat first in the 3rd Test match today. Toss update happened 15 minutes before the scheduled game start at around 9:15 am local time.
Playing 11 for India vs Australia 3rd Test
Here are playing 11 for todays Test match under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma:
- Rohit Sharma (c)
- Shubman Gill
- Cheteshwar Pujara
- Virat Kohli
- Shreyas Iyer
- Srikar Bharat (wk)
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Axar Patel
- Ravichandran Ashwin
- Umesh Yadav
- Mohammed Siraj
Playing 11 for Australia in today’s Test
- Steven Smith (c)
- Usman Khawaja
- Travis Head
- Marnus Labuschagne
- Peter Handscomb
- Cameron Green
- Alex Carey (wk)
- Mitchell Starc
- Nathan Lyon
- Todd Murphy
- Matthew Kuhnemann
India vs Australia 3rd Test Live Score
Live Score for India vs Australia begins 15 minutes before the game start at 9:30 Local time. For ball by ball live score, commentary, toss and playing 11 update, watch IND vs AUS live score here.
Live Updates: IND vs AUS Match live score
Pitch Report
Murali Karthik and Matthew Hayden: “It is a very good wicket to bat on historically. It has small boundaries and the outfield is lightning fast. This wicket looks similar to the ones we saw in the first two Test matches. We are going to see lots of spin as it is dry. Bat first if you win the toss.”
India vs Australia 3rd Test Preview
Virat Kohli has been a pivotal figure in India’s home dominance since his debut in international cricket back in 2008. In his 199 matches played at home, he has amassed 10,829 runs in 221 innings with an impressive average of 58.22. He has also scored 34 centuries and 51 half-centuries at home, with his best score being 254*.
However, this time around, Virat will be under immense pressure to perform, especially since he has been struggling to score big runs in the longer format since 2020. His numbers for 2020, 2021, and 2022 have been underwhelming for someone of his stature. Despite this, his recent innings of 44 and 20 runs in the second Test in Delhi showcased his control and form, giving hope to Team India that their biggest batting star will end his three-year-long drought of big runs.
Virat has managed to score 76 runs in three innings in this series at an average of 25.33. His performance in the upcoming match will be crucial not only for his personal milestones but also for India’s chances of qualifying for the ICC World Test Championship finals, which will take place in London from June 7 onwards.
In addition to celebrating Virat Kohli’s milestone, India will be aiming to win the match in Indore against Australia to make it 3-0 in the series and secure their spot in the WTC final. Skipper Rohit Sharma has emphasized the importance of focusing on the present challenge of facing Australia in Indore.
“It will be a great achievement for us [to reach the WTC final], but we know that we need to cross that final hurdle, and for that, we need to win the next game as well, so the focus is on this Test, how we can win this game, and not look too far ahead, because after this game we have got one more Test match to be played, and then after that, there are two months of IPL,” Rohit said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
“There is a lot of time to think about the final, but right now it is very important for us to focus on this one and see how we can turn it around and win this game as well, because in the last game, we were put under pressure for sure, we can expect the same here as well, so we need to be ready for that,” added Rohit.
Rohit Sharma has not yet made a decision on whether KL Rahul or Shubman Gill will play in the upcoming match. He also clarified that removing KL Rahul from the vice-captaincy is not a major issue, as the post was given to him due to a lack of experienced players in the team.
“As far as Gill and KL both are concerned, they train and practice [for long hours] before any game…As far as our 11 is concerned, we have not finalised on it. I would like to do it at the toss and I prefer to be announced at that point in time,” Rohit Sharma further said.
“All 17 players in the team has a chance. The team will back those who are talented. Stripping vice-captaincy doesn’t mean anything big. He was made the vice-captain because maybe there was not many experienced players at that time. It is not a big thing,” Rohit said.
KL Rahul had a disappointing performance with the bat in 2022 and hasn’t started 2023 with great form either. In contrast, Shubman Gill has been in excellent form in white-ball cricket, scoring a double century against New Zealand this year. Last year, KL scored 822 runs with an average of 25.68 and nine half-centuries in 30 matches. This year, he has only managed to score 38 runs in three Test innings and a total of 148 runs in five international matches with an average of 29.60 and one half-century, which is not impressive.
Australia, having lost their chance to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, will be playing for their respect and aiming to win the remaining two matches. To achieve this, they will need Steve Smith, who is leading in the absence of Pat Cummins due to family health issues, to perform well with the bat. As a captain, Smith has an impressive batting record with 3793 runs at an average of 67.73, including 15 centuries, three of which were achieved on his last Test trip to India in 2017. Smith is hopeful that his leadership role can help him regain his form with the bat, after registering scores of 37, 25*, 0, and 9 in the series so far. While speaking to the media, Smith expressed his frustration with his dismissals in the Delhi Test.
“I have played, what, 95 Test matches (94) and I do not think there has been too many times I have walked off the field and I have gone, ‘what the hell am I doing?'” Smith told reporters on Tuesday.
“I was pretty angry. There has not been too many times in my career where I have actually come off and just been bedazzled by what I’ve done. It wasn’t my finest moment. Certainly, something to learn from, I am still learning as well. It was not the way I wanted to play, particularly when I had the field set for all of us – they had the field out,” said the Australia captain.
Smith admitted that Australia’s hasty approach caused them to stumble, and he intends to correct it in the last two Tests.
“We probably just rushed things a little bit and it is something we will talk about …when we have got them on the ropes, we can slow things down. We do not have to play at such a high tempo and risky tempo. Because we had them where we wanted them, we had men out and the ability to get off strike. We just rushed it. We have got to learn to adapt a little bit better,” he added.
Australia has been hit hard with injuries, losing pacer Josh Hazlewood and veteran opener David Warner for the remainder of the series. However, they have received a boost with the return of quick Mitchell Starc and all-rounder Cameron Green. The duo sustained finger injuries during the home series against South Africa and missed the first two Tests against India.
Venue Stats for Indore
Since 2016, two Tests have been played here and both the times, the teams who have won the toss decided to bat first and the results ended equal with one by batting first and one by bowling first.
Average Scores by innings:
- 1st innings – 354
- 2nd innings – 396
- 3rd innings – 215
Live Updates: IND vs AUS Match live score
India’s Test squad for the third and fourth Test against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), K L Rahul, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav and Jaydev Unadkat.
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