Australia drop Head, Murphy debuts in opposition to India in Nagpur

Australia dropped middle-order batter Travis Head and handed uncapped off-spinner Todd Murphy his debut for the opening Test in opposition to India in Nagpur on Thursday.

Touring captain Pat Cummins gained an essential toss and elected to bat in spin-friendly situations on the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium.

“We know those conditions well,” Cummins mentioned.

“We know we’re going to have to tweak a few things to how we play in Australia, can’t wait.”

For India, Suryakumar Yadav, the top-ranked Twenty20 batter, will make his Test debut alongside wicketkeeper KS Bharat.

India captain Rohit Sharma mentioned they too would have most well-liked to bat first.

“We’d have batted first but I think we’ve got a quality bowling attack and hopefully we can restrict them to as low as possible,” Rohit mentioned.

“We do understand the importance of the series. It’s about coming out and winning that session, and not to think too far ahead.”

Delhi, Dharamsala and Ahmedabad host the opposite matches of the four-Test collection.

Teams:

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Ravinda Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj

Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (wicketkeeper), Pat Cummins (captain), Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Scott Boland